FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

China: Falun Gong

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made to the Chinese authorities on the persecution of the Falun Gong community; and if she will make a statement.

Ian McCartney: The Government regularly raises with the Chinese government reports of the harassment and arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners, and did so at the most recent round of the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, held in London on 5 February 2007 which I participated in.

South Africa: Nuclear Weapons

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the Republic of South Africa on nuclear weapons proliferation.

Kim Howells: Senior officials discuss proliferation issues with representatives of the Republic of South Africa frequently; in Geneva (at the Conference on Disarmament), Vienna (at the International Atomic Energy Agency), New York (at the UN), as well as through our High Commission in Pretoria.
	We look forward to working closely with the Republic of South Africa on the UN Security Council.

Tibet: Human Rights

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations her Department has made to the Government of the People's Republic of China on human rights in Tibet.

Ian McCartney: We regularly raise our concerns on human rights in Tibet with the Chinese Government. We did this most recently at the 15(th) round of the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, which took place in London on 5 February 2007 which I participated in.

Treaties: Proliferation

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what her Department's interpretation is of the phrase "at an early date" in Article 6 of the Treaty on the non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Kim Howells: Article VI requires Parties to the Treaty to
	"pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date...".
	While it is not possible to define precisely the timescale implied by the phrase "at an early date", we would note with regard to the cessation of the nuclear arms race that, since the end of the Cold War, the world's major nuclear arsenals have been significantly reduced.
	The UK maintains only a minimum nuclear deterrent. Following the implementation of our December 2006 White Paper on the Future of the UK Nuclear Deterrent, we will have reduced our nuclear arsenal to 160 operationally available warheads: a reduction of 75 per cent. since the end of the Cold War. The largest nuclear stockpiles, those of the US and Russia, also continue to reduce significantly, for example under the terms of the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty.
	We will continue to press for multilateral negotiations toward mutual, balanced and verifiable reductions in nuclear weapons and to work towards total elimination of our own nuclear arsenal and all others.

TREASURY

Customs and Revenue: Logos

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent on developing the HM Revenue and Customs brand since 2005.

Dawn Primarolo: Since 2005, £720,000 has been spent on developing the HM Revenue and Customs brand.

Departmental Expenditure

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2006,  Official Report, column 719W, on Departmental Expenditure, what the costs of travel and subsistence were for  (a) HM Customs and Revenue,  (b) the Royal Mint and  (c) the Office for National Statistics in each year between 1997-8 and 2003-04.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) on 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 414W.

Departmental Expenditure

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on speech-writing consultancy services in each of the last 12 months, broken down by supplier.

John Healey: Nothing.

Departments: Internet

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times his Department's website has been redesigned since 1997; and what the cost was of each such redesign.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given on 19 December 2001,  Official Report, column 321W. The amount within that total for redesign could now be provided only at disproportionate cost due to a change of accounting system in 2002-03.
	In 2004, the website was redesigned to improve navigation and meet accessibility standards at a cost of £22,000 excluding VAT.

Departments: Mass Media

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library copies of his Department's evaluations of media coverage since May 2005.

John Healey: The Treasury has conducted no evaluations of media coverage since May 2005.

Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisors

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance, in addition to the code of conduct, has been issued to special advisers in his Department in relation to party political activities in the last six months.

John Healey: Special advisers are issued with the special advisers code of conduct and civil service code on appointment, and central guidance is provided in the run up to devolved, local and general elections and in the run up to party conference.

Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisors

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions he has disciplined special advisers in his Department in the last three years.

John Healey: Personal information relating to staff members is confidential. As such it would be inappropriate to disclose any such information.

Departments: Publications

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's staff handbook.

John Healey: The Treasury's staff handbook is published on the Department's intranet and is designed as an electronic document to facilitate regular updating. It is not available in hard copy because of the practical difficulties of keeping the information up to date.

Departments: Training

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the titles were of each training course offered to  (a) Ministers and  (b) civil servants in his Department in the last 12 months.

John Healey: The Treasury does not provide training courses for Ministers. Treasury staff can attend a range of courses provided within the Department and externally, depending on their training needs.

Departments: Welfare Review

Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions have taken place between his Department and the Department for Work and Pensions regarding the Welfare Review being conducted by David Freud.

Dawn Primarolo: Treasury Ministers and officials discuss a wide range of issues with their colleagues in other Departments as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Departments:Exhibitions

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the  (a) seminars,  (b) workshops and  (c) exhibitions which were sponsored by his Department and which took place on non-departmental premises in each of the last two years; and what the (i) purpose, (ii) date and (iii) cost was of each.

John Healey: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total number of electors was in  (a) December 2005 and  (b) December 2006 in each constituency in the UK, ranked in descending order by region according to the difference between 2005 and 2006.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 8 February 2007:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning what the total number of electors was for each constituency in the UK in (a) December 2005 and (b) December 2006, ranked in descending order by region according to the difference between 2005 and 2006. (118521)
	Data for the 1 December 2005, are the latest data available. For these 2005 data I refer you to the Official Report, 30 January, volume 456, number 36, column 228. These statistics can also be downloaded from: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product .asp?vlnk=319. Data for 1 December 2006 will be published at this web-address on 22 February 2007.

Foreign Investment in UK

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of foreign direct investment into the UK in each year since 2000 was as a result of foreign takeovers of UK companies.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 February 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of foreign direct investment into the UK in each year since 2000 was as a result of foreign takeovers of UK companies. (121948)
	
		
			  Percentage of foreign direct investment into the UK as a result of foreign takeovers of UK companies, 2000-05 
			  £ billion 
			   Total foreign direct investment in the UK  Net foreign direct investment in UK equity capital  Per cent. of inward direct investment  Net inward mergers and acquisitions of UK companies  Per cent. of inward direct investment 
			 2000 81 58.2 72 60 74 
			 2001 37 20.2 54 20 53 
			 2002 17 11.1 66 9 53 
			 2003 17 4.1 24 6 34 
			 2004 42 23.8 56 24 58 
			 2005 108 84.0 78 42 39 
			  Source: ONS 
		
	
	Total foreign direct investment is published quarterly in the UK Balance of Payments First Release as is net foreign direct investment in UK equity capital. Net inward mergers and acquisitions is published in the quarterly Mergers and Acquisitions First Release.
	Net foreign direct investment in UK equity capital comprises purchases less sales of equity capital greater than 10 per cent of a company's ordinary shares. Mergers and acquisitions comprise purchases less sales of equity capital where total share ownership becomes more or less than 50 per cent. of a company's ordinary shares.
	Figures in the table above have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Individual Savings Accounts

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people took up the maximum £7,000 individual savings account for the three years up to and including 2005-06.

Edward Balls: This figure for 2005-06 will not be available until next year. The latest data available on the number of individuals subscribing £7,000 to an ISA is shown as follows:
	
		
			   Total (Thousand) 
			 2002-03 713 
			 2003-04 675

Life Expectancy

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the 10  (a) local authorities and  (b) local authority wards with the (i) highest and (ii) lowest life expectancies in the United Kingdom for (A) the latest year for which information is available and (B) 1996-97.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 February 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking for a list of the 10 (a) local authorities and (b) local authority wards with the (i) highest and (ii) lowest life expectancies in the United Kingdom, for (A) the latest year for which information is available and (B) 1996-97. (121846)
	Life expectancy figures for local authorities are calculated as three year rolling averages. Tables 1 and 2 (which I am placing in the House of Commons Library), provide the period life expectancy at birth, for males and females separately, in the 10 local authorities with the (i) highest and (ii) lowest life expectancies in the United Kingdom in (A) 2003-05 (the latest period available) and (B) 1995-97.
	Life expectancy figures for local authority wards are available in England and Wales only, as a five year average. Table 3 (which I am also placing in the House of Commons Library) provides the period life expectancy at birth in the 10 wards with the (i) highest and (ii) lowest life expectancies in England and Wales in 1999-2003 (the only period available). The figures are for all persons, as some wards are too small for the calculation of life expectancies for males and females separately.
	The figures for local authority wards are experimental statistics—that is, statistics which are in a testing or consultation phase and are not fully developed—and should therefore be treated with caution.
	
		
			  Table 1: Local authorities with the highest and lowest period life expectancy at birth( 1, 2)  United Kingdom, 2003-05( 3) 
			  Years of life 
			   Male  Female 
			  Rank order  Local authority  Life expectancy  95 per cent. confidence interval( 4)  Local authority  Life expectancy  95 per cent. confidence interval( 4) 
			   Highest life expectancy  
			 1 Kensington and Chelsea 82.2 (81.6-82.8) Kensington and Chelsea 86.2 (85.6-86.7) 
			 2 East Dorset 80.9 (80.1-81.6) Epsom and Ewell 84.5 (83.9-85.2) 
			 3 Hart 80.2 (79.5-80.8) East Dorset 84.1 (83.5-84.8) 
			 4 Uttlesford 80.0 (79.3-80.8) South Cambridgeshire 83.9 (83.4-84.5) 
			 5 Wokingham 80.0 (79.5-80.5) Rutland 83.8 (82.8-84.8) 
			 6 South Norfolk 80.0 (79.4-80.6) Purbeck 83.7 (82.8-84.6) 
			 7 Chiltern 80.0 (79.3-80.7) Guildford 83.6 (83.1-84.2) 
			 8 Horsham 79.9 (79.3-80.4) New Forest 83.6 (83.1-84.0) 
			 9 Brentwood 79.8 (79.0-80.6) North Dorset 83.5 (82.7-84.2) 
			 10 Crawley 79.8 (79.0-80.5) Horsham 83.4 (82.9-84.0) 
			   Lowest life expectancy  
			 423 Clackmannanshire 73.2 (72.1-74.3) Manchester 78.3 (77.9-78.7) 
			 424 Blackpool 73.2 (72.5-73.8) Hartlepool 78.3 (77.6-79.0) 
			 425 Dundee City 73.0 (72.3-73.6) Halton 78.3 (77.7-78.8) 
			 426 North Lanarkshire 72.7 (72.3-73.1) Renfrewshire 78.2 (77.7-78.7) 
			 427 Renfrewshire 72.6 (72.1-73.2) Liverpool 78.1 (77.8-78.4) 
			 428 Manchester 72.5 (72.1-72.8) East Ayrshire 78.0 (77.4-78.5) 
			 429 Comhairle nan Eilean siar 72.1 (70.6-73.5) Inverclyde 77.9 (77.1-78.6) 
			 430 Inverclyde 71.1 (70.2-71.9) North Lanarkshire 77.6 (77.3-78.0) 
			 431 West Dunbartonshire 71.0 (70.1-71.8) West Dunbartonshire 77.5 (76.9-78.2) 
			 432 Glasgow City 69.9 (69.7-70.2) Glasgow City 76.7 (76.4-77.0) 
			 (1) Period life expectancy at birth is an estimate of the average number of years a newborn baby would survive if he or she experienced the area's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby born in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in the area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives. (2) Using local authority boundaries as of 2005. (3) Three year rolling averages, based on deaths registered in each year and mid-year population estimates. (4) Confidence intervals are a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and show the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Local authorities with the highest and lowest period life expectancy at birth( 1, 2)  United Kingdom, 1995-97( 3) 
			  Years of life 
			   Male  Female 
			  Rank order  Local authority  Life expectancy  95 per cent. confidence interval( 4)  Local authority  Life expectancy  95 per cent. confidence interval( 4) 
			   Highest life expectancy  
			 1 Chiltern 78.2 (77.5-78.9) East Dorset 83.2 (82.5-83.9) 
			 2 Wokingham 77.8 (77.3-78.3) East Devon 82.5 (82.0-83.0) 
			 3 East Dorset 77.8 (77.1-78.6) Epsom and Ewell 82.3 (81.5-83.0) 
			 4 Ryedale 77.8 (76.9-78.7) Three Rivers 82.2 (81.5-82.9) 
			 5 South Oxfordshire 77.6 (77.0-78.2) Christchurch 82.1 (81.1-83.1) 
			 6 South Norfolk 77.5 (76.8-78.1) North Dorset 81.9 (81.1-82.8) 
			 7 Vale of the White Horse 77.5 (76.9-78.1) Chelmsford 81.9 (81.4-82.4) 
			 8 Fareham 77.4 (76.8-78.0) Guildford 81.9 (81.3-82.4) 
			 9 West Somerset 77.4 (76.2-78.5) West Somerset 81.8 (80.6-82.9) 
			 10 Guildford 77.3 (76.7-77.9) Horsham 81.8 (81.2-82.3) 
			
			   Lowest life expectancy  
			 423 Knowsley 71.5 (71.0-72.1) Easington 77.1 (76.5-77.8) 
			 424 Tower Hamlets 71.3 (70.7-71.8) West Lothian 77.1 (76.5-77.6) 
			 425 Merthyr Tydfil 71.2 (70.2-72.1) Halton 77.0 (76.4-77.7) 
			 426 Liverpool 71.2 (70.9-71.5) Liverpool 76.9 (76.6-7.2) 
			 427 North Lanarkshire 71.1 (70.7-71.5) Manchester 76.9 (76.5-77.2) 
			 428 Comhairle nan Eilean siar 70.4 (69.0-71.8) Inverclyde 76.7 (76.0-77.4) 
			 429 Manchester 70.1 (69.8-70.5) Merthyr Tydfil 76.6 (75.8-77.5) 
			 430 West Dunbartonshire 69.3 (68.5-70.1) West Dunbartonshire 76.4 (75.7-77.1) 
			 431 Inverclyde 69.2 (68.5-69.9) North Lanarkshire 76.2 (75.9-76.6 ) 
			 432 Glasgow City 68.2 (67.9-68.5) Glasgow City 75.4 (75.1-75.7 ) 
			 (1) Period life expectancy at birth is an estimate of the average number of years a newborn baby would survive if he or she experienced the area's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby born in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in the area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives. (2) Using local authority boundaries as of 2005. (3) Three year rolling averages, based on deaths registered in each year and mid-year population estimates. (4) Confidence intervals are a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and show the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Local authority wards with the highest and lowest period life expectancy at birth( 1, 2)  all persons, England and Wales, 1999-2003( 3) 
			  Years of life 
			  Rank order  Local authority  2001 Census standard table ward  Life expectancy  95 per cent. confidence interval( 4)  Communal establishment indicator( 5) 
			   Highest life expectancy 
			 1 St. Edmundsbury Moreton Hall 93.4 (90.0-96.9 ) 0 
			 2 Eden Grey stoke 91.3 (87.7-94.9 ) 0 
			 3 South Oxfordshire Didcot Ladygrove 90.3 (86.7-93.9) 0 
			 4 Harborough Broughton Astley-Broughton 90.1 (84.9-95.3) 0 
			 5 North Dorset Shaftesbury Underhill 89.1 (86.2-92.1) 2 
			 6 Dartford Castle 89.0 (81.5-96.6) 0 
			 7 Basingstoke and Deane Hatch Warren and Beggarwood 88.8 (85.1-92.4) 0 
			 8 Uttlesford Littlebury 88.7 (85.2-92.2) 0 
			 9 Warwick Leek Wootton 88.3 (85.9-90.7) 0 
			 10 Cotswold Rissingtons 87.9 (84.6-91.1) 0 
			   
			   Lowest life expectancy 
			 8788 Liverpool Vauxhall 70.3 (68.8-71.8) 3 
			 8789 Stockton-on-Tees Portrack and Tilery 70.2 (68.5-72.0) 5 
			 8790 Tendring Pier 70.1 (68.0-72.2) 5 
			 8791 Manchester Beswick and Clayton 70.1 (68.7-71.4) 4 
			 8792 Manchester Ardwick 70.0 (68.6-71.5) 4 
			 8793 Liverpool Everton 69.8 (68.3-71.3) 0 
			 8794 Rochdale Central and Falinge 69.4 (68.0-70.8) 3 
			 8795 Middlesbrough Middlehaven 67.8 (65.5-70.1) 0 
			 8796 Denbighshire Rhyl West 66.8 (64.5-69.1) 3 
			 8797 Broxbourne Rooksdown 65.4 (61.3-69.5) 5 
			 (1) Period life expectancy at birth is an estimate of the average number of years a newborn baby would survive if he or she experienced the area's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby born in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in the area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives. (2) Using boundaries as of 2005. (3) Five year averages, based on deaths registered in each year, and experimental ward population estimates based on the 2001 Census. (4) Confidence intervals are a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and show the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. (5) The presence of medical and care communal establishments, such as nursing homes and hospices, can artificially depress the average life expectancy of the ward in which they are located. To aid interpretation of the figures, this indicator shows the proportion of the population of each ward, aged 65 and over, who were resident in such establishments in 2001. For this purpose, all wards in England and Wales (not only the wards in these Boroughs) were divided into six groups which are numbered from 0 to 5: '0' means that none of the over-65 population lived in medical and care communal establishments; '1' means that the proportion of the over-65 population in such establishments was in the lowest fifth of all wards; '5' means that the proportion of the over-65 population in such establishments was in the highest fifth of all wards.

Official Visits: Kuwait

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of the visit by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to Kuwait in February 2007.

Edward Balls: I made no such visit.

Overseas Aid

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total amount paid in remittances from the UK to developing countries in each of the last five years, broken down by recipient state.

Edward Balls: The UK authorities do not produce official statistics of workers' remittances disaggregated on the basis of destination country. The breakdown of the size of immigrant communities in the UK provides one indicator on the destination of the bulk of remittance flows out of the UK. Estimates of the size of UK remittance market, can be found in the report of the UK Remittances Working Group(1), established in 2004 by the Department for International Development (DFID). This shows that DFID believes the most reliable estimate for total remittances from the UK to developing countries to be £2.3 billion in 2005 and that—based on the size of diaspora communities—the primary developing country recipients of UK remittances are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, Kenya, Nigeria and China.
	(1) Available at www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/uk-remittances-report.pdf

Public Expenditure: Pendle

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what expenditure is planned to be carried out in Pendle by his Department in the years up to 2010; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: Expenditure incurred by HM Treasury benefits the whole of the United Kingdom, including the hon. Gentlemen's constituency.

Revenue and Customs: Accrington

Greg Pope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that no staff at Accrington HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office are moved to any other HMRC office prior to the completion of the review of the office scheduled to take place in the summer.

Dawn Primarolo: I can assure my hon. Friend that no staff in the Accrington HMRC office will be required to move before the review of the Preston/Blackpool urban centre, which includes Accrington, is completed. There may of course be circumstances where staff will themselves choose to move for personal or career reasons.

Revenue and Customs: Manpower

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the projections for staff numbers in each HM Revenue and Customs office up until 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: In November 2006, HMRC announced a series of regional consultations of its accommodation. For consultation purposes offices within each region have been classified into three categories: urban centres, clusters of offices and individual locations. All the buildings within an urban centre, cluster or individual location will be looked at as a whole. Staffing projections for the outcome for individual offices will depend on the outcome of the consultations. Initial staffing projections to 2008 and 2010 by location were published in November on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/local/transforming-hmrc.htm
	These projections are subject to change following further refinement of business planning and the outcomes of the consultation with internal and external stakeholders that has been built into the review process.

Revenue and Customs: Religion

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many  (a) Protestant,  (b) Roman Catholic and  (c) non-determined appointees there were to HM Revenue and Customs in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.

Dawn Primarolo: The numbers of appointees to HM Revenue and Customs(1) in the last three years, broken down by Protestant, Roman Catholic and non-determined is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Year  Protestant  Roman Catholic  Non- determined 
			 2006 15 25 2 
			 2005(1) 100 148 5 
			 2004(1) 144 202 13 
		
	
	(1) HM Revenue and Customs was formed in 18 April 05 by the coming together of the Inland Revenue (IR) and HM Customs and Excise (HMCE). The statistics quoted have been obtained by merging the appointees' figures from IR and HMCE for the relevant years.

Secondments

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the  (a) paid and  (b) unpaid persons who have been seconded to HM Treasury from outside the Civil Service in the last 12 months; from which organisation each was seconded; what position each occupied in his Department; and whether each was paid from the public purse.

John Healey: The information requested can be found at
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/about_ secondee.cfm

Shari'a Finance

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with financial institutions on the provision of Shari'a bank accounts, savings accounts and mortgages.

Edward Balls: The Government have taken a range of steps to modernise the taxation and regulatory framework for Shari'a-compliant financial products.
	This includes changes to ensure the consistent taxation treatment of Shari'a-compliant home financing arrangements in 2003, retail finance in 2006 and business finance in 2007.
	In addition, the Regulation of Financial Services (Land Transactions) Act 2005 brings Ijara home financing arrangements within the scope of Financial Services authority regulation, ensuring a level playing regulatory field within the Shari'a-compliant home financing market. The changes will take effect from 6 April 2007.
	HM Treasury Ministers and officials meet and receive representations from a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and representations.

Shari'a-compliant Financial Products

Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will list the organisations  (a) ministers and  (b) officials in his Department have met in their development of policy and regulations governing Shari'a-compliant financial products;
	(2)  what discussions his Department has had with the Muslim Council of Britain on the  (a) design and  (b) regulation of Shari'a-compliant financial products.

Edward Balls: The Government have taken a range of steps to modernise the taxation and regulatory framework for Shari'a-compliant financial products. This includes changes to ensure the consistent taxation treatment of Shari'a-compliant home financing arrangements in 2003, retail finance in 2006 and business finance in 2007.
	In addition, the Regulation of Financial Services (Land Transactions) Act 2005 brings Ijara home financing arrangements within the scope of Financial Services Authority regulation, ensuring a level playing regulatory field within the Shari'a-compliant home financing market. The changes will take effect from 6 April 2007.
	HM Treasury Ministers and officials meet and receive representations from a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and representations.

Special Advisers

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2006,  Official Report, column 209W, on special advisers, what the titles were of each of the DVDs; and what the name was of the donor of each gift.

John Healey: The DVDs of films and television series donated to charity were received from a film and television company.

Special Advisers

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter of appointment of his unpaid special adviser, Sue Nye.

John Healey: Sue Nye was reappointed on 10 May 2005 following the general election and is an unpaid adviser as set out in the Prime Minister's written statement of 24 July 2006,  Official Report, column 86-90WS.

Stairway Consultancy

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what services the Stairway Consultancy was paid by his Department in 2005-06; and what the total value has been of payments in 2006-07.

John Healey: The Treasury paid the Stairway Consultancy £1,818 for the provision of training courses in 2005-06. There have been no services provided or payments in 2006-07.

Tax Statistics

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of tax paid by each income decile group in each year since 1997-98.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 22 February 2007:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking what estimate has been made of the total taxation paid by each income decile group in each year since 1997-98. I am replying in her absence. (115525).
	Estimates of tax paid by each household income decile group are based on the ONS analysis 'The effects of taxes and benefits on household income'. The latest analysis for 2004/05 was published on the National Statistics website on 12th May 2006 at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits. The analysis is based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), which is a sample survey covering approximately 7,000 households in the UK.
	The table below shows the average tax paid by households in each income decile group, both in per year, and as a percentage of gross household income. They have been calculated from the numbers appearing each year in Table 14 of the taxes and benefits analysis. Data has been provided back to 1997/98.
	Gross income includes income from wages, occupational pensions, self-employment income, investment income, and income from state benefits, all before tax. Direct taxes include income tax, national insurance contributions and council tax. The indirect taxes include VAT, duties, and a number of smaller items such as television licences. Indirect taxes also include intermediate taxes - these are indirect taxes paid by companies which are deemed to be passed onto households through the prices they pay for goods and services. A more detailed breakdown showing each of the different taxes appears in the annual article.
	There was a change in the way the figures were compiled in 2002/03 which will effect the estimated tax burden. Up until 2001/02, charges for water, environmental and sewage services were treated as local taxes, whereas from 2002/03 onwards they were excluded. The local tax category now just includes council tax and Northern Ireland rates, and in the annual article it is labelled as such. Based on figures for 2001/02, the effect of this definitional change is to reduce average household payment of local taxes/council tax from 3.0% of gross income to 2.2%. This obviously reduces the overall estimate of total tax as a percentage of gross income by 0.8%.
	There was also a change to the way that tax credits were treated from 2003/04 onwards. Up until 2002/03 tax credits were treated as cash benefits. From 2003/04, they are classified as negative income tax, but only to the extent that income tax less tax credits, remains greater than or equal to zero for each family. So for households paying relatively little or no income tax, tax credit payments were still regarded either partially or wholly, as cash benefits. Based on figures for 2003/04, the effect of this change is to reduce the estimate of total tax as a percentage of gross income for all households by 0.3%.
	The tax burden, when expressed as a proportion of gross income appears particularly high for the bottom income decile, although this result needs to be interpreted carefully. The apparently high tax burden is due to payment of indirect rather than direct taxes. Estimates of indirect taxes are imputed based on household expenditure. It should be remembered that measured expenditure will not necessarily balance with measured income for the year. This is especially true for the bottom income decile where average measured income is significantly lower than average expenditure. For these households, when their payment of indirect taxes (which reflect expenditure) are expressed as a proportion of gross income, the result is a high calculated tax burden.
	There are a number of plausible reasons why for some households, expenditure might exceed income. Households with low incomes may draw on their savings or borrow in order to finance their expenditure. In addition, the lower decile in particular includes some groups, who have, or report, very little income (for example, self-employed people starting a business or someone who has just been made redundant). In these cases, expenditure is not being met from current income. Some types of receipts are not included as income in the EFS e.g. inheritance and severance payments. In some cases, the information given on expenditure is not consistent with that on income received because of timing differences.
	
		
			  Average gross household income and total tax payment by income decile, United Kingdom, 1997-98 to 200405 
			  Decile groups ranked by households equivalised disposable income 
			  Gross household income 
			   Bottom  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  Top  All households (£ per year) 
			 1997-98 6087 8512 10001 13550 17458 20784 24921 31163 37317 60056 22985 
			 1998-99 6381 9104 10708 14159 18284 21736 26191 31258 38195 66486 24250 
			 1999-2000 6238 9199 10873 14745 18945 23071 27672 32407 41544 69536 25423 
			 2000-01 6749 10100 12648 15924 20245 23922 29549 34442 41942 71754 26727 
			 2001-02 7041 10777 12886 16761 21272 25245 31022 37445 46179 80280 28891 
			 2002-03(1) 7580 11765 13935 17315 21451 25674 32324 38839 47619 75786 29229 
			 2003-04(2) 7654 11673 14304 18697 22829 27319 31614 39037 47436 81700 30226 
			 2004-05 8376 12995 15608 19210 24206 28491 33262 41263 51070 84357 31884 
		
	
	
		
			  Total tax( 3) 
			   Bottom  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  Top  All households (£ per year) 
			 1997-98 2678 2848 3292 4805 6282 7596 9321 11787 13611 20779 8300 
			 1998-99 3041 3178 3634 5083 6772 8238 10025 11920 14287 23712 8989 
			 1999-2000 3142 3256 3628 5428 7060 8643 10371 12406 15427 23525 9289 
			 2000-01 3211 3692 4522 5845 7618 9081 11300 13144 15785 24528 9873 
			 2001-02 3754 3739 4214 5851 7589 9113 11438 13529 16758 26967 10296 
			 2002-03(1) 3536 3796 4283 5792 7348 9005 11522 13708 16778 26502 10227 
			 2003-04(2) 3387 3890 4521 6279 7852 9812 11535 14196 17413 28418 10731 
			 2004-05 3564 4213 4960 6396 8486 9953 12035 14791 18755 29420 11257 
		
	
	
		
			  Tax as a percentage of gross household income 
			   Bottom  2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th  7th  8th  9th  Top  All households (percentage) 
			 1997-98 44.0 33.5 32.9 35.5 36.0 36.5 37.4 37.8 36.5 34.6 36.1 
			 1998-99 47.7 34.9 33.9 35.9 37.0 37.9 38.3 38.1 37.4 35.7 37.1 
			 1999-2000 50.4 35.4 33.4 36.8 37.3 37.5 37.5 38.3 37.1 33.8 36.5 
			 2000-01 47.6 36.6 35.8 36.7 37.6 38.0 38.2 38.2 37.6 34.2 36.9 
			 2001-02 53.3 34.7 32.7 34.9 35.7 36.1 36.9 36.1 36.3 33.6 35.6 
			 2002-03(1) 46.6 32.3 30.7 33.5 34.3 35.1 35.6 35.3 35.2 35.0 35.0 
			 2003-04(2) 44.3 33.3 31.6 33.6 34.4 35.9 36.5 36.4 36.7 34.8 35.5 
			 2004-05 42.6 32.4 31.8 33.3 35.1 34.9 36.2 35.8 36.7 34.9 35.3 
			 (1 )From 2002-03 onwards charges for water, environmental and sewage services were no longer treated as a tax. (2 )From 2003-04 onwards tax credits were treated as a negative tax. (3 )Includes both direct and indirect taxes. Direct taxes include income tax (after deduction of tax credits), employees' National Insurance contributions, and council tax. Indirect taxes include VAT, duties, and a number of smaller items such as television licences. Source: 'The effects of taxes and benefits on household income', ONS

Unemployment: Stafford

David Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the most recent  (a) employment and  (b) unemployment rates are in Stafford constituency; and what assessment he has made of the prospects for the local labour market over the next three years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 February 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about employment and unemployment. (122235)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of employment and unemployment from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
	The latest employment rate, for persons of working age resident in the Stafford constituency, for the 12 months ending in June 2006, was 77 per cent.
	The unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed persons aged 16 and over expressed as a proportion of the economically active population. The rate for the Stafford constituency, for the 12 months ending in June 2006, was 4 per cent.
	As these estimates are for a subset of the population in a small geographical area, they are based on very small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty.
	ONS also compiles statistics for local areas of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). The claimant count proportion is defined as the number of JSA claimants expressed as a proportion of the resident population of working age. The average proportion for the 12 months ending in June 2006 was 2.0 per cent. These statistics are more timely than those for the APS shown above. The average proportion, for the Stafford constituency, for the latest 12 months ending in January 2007 was 2.2 per cent.

Welfare Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many manual payments of tax credits were made in each of the last 12 months.

Dawn Primarolo: For the number of manual payments made up to and including April 2006 I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 5 June 2006,  Official Report, columns 188-89W.
	The number of manual payments made in each month from May 2006 to 30 September 2006 was around:
	
		
			  2006  Number of payments (000) 
			 May 20 
			 June 20 
			 July 15 
			 August 20 
			 September 30 
		
	
	For the number of manual payments made between October 2006 and January 2007 (inclusive) I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 7 February 2007,  Official Report, column 1037W.
	The allocation of payments to precise payment dates requires a degree of estimation and are therefore rounded to the nearest 5,000.

Welfare Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of abolishing the tax credit system £25,000 disregard for income increases; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: There are no estimates available for the cost to the Exchequer of abolishing the £25,000 disregard from the tax credits system.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many recoveries for the overpayment of tax credits made in  (a) 2003-04 and  (b) 2004-05 were initiated in 2006.

Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Committee of Standards in Public Life

Denis MacShane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the cost to the public purse of the Committee of Standards in Public Life was in the latest year for which figures are available.

Hilary Armstrong: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mr. Purchase) on 19 February 2007,  Official Report, column 303W.

Data Protection: Email

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps she is taking to ensure that the Data Protection Act 1998 is complied with in respect of the dissemination of electronic mail addresses collected as a result of public consultations under the auspices of the Cabinet Office; and if she will make a statement.

Hilary Armstrong: The Cabinet Office provides comprehensive guidance to staff in relation to compliance with the Data Protection Act (DPA). This emphasises that personal data must be processed in accordance with the data protection principles. Relating specifically to public consultations, under criterion 4 of the Code of Practice on Consultation (a copy of which is available in the Library for the reference of Members), all Government Departments are required to explain in their consultation documents that information provided in responses will be dealt with in accordance with the access to information regimes. The guidance accompanying the code offers text with which to give this assurance.

Departments: Public Participation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many public inquiries were directed to her Department in each year since 1997.

Hilary Armstrong: The information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Experience Corps

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much Government funding has been provided to the Experience Corps in each year since its formation; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Miliband: The Experience Corps was launched in 2001 as a limited company. The Government grant funded Experience Corps to a total of £19 million over three years, until March 2004. The following table gives an outline of Government funding by year.
	
		
			  Government funding for Experience Corps by financial year 
			   Total grant (£) 
			 2001-02 5,292,000 
			 2002-03 7,176,757 
			 2003-04 7,200,000 
			 Overall total 19,668,757 
		
	
	Since March 2004, the programme has continued to run independent of Government funding.

Primary Care Trusts

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many primary care trusts the decision unit has visited in the last 12 months; and what factors the unit took into account when deciding which to visit.

Hilary Armstrong: The Prime Minister's Delivery Unit has visited 35 primary care trusts within the last year as part of its work to monitor and report on delivery of the Government's top delivery and reform priorities, and identify the key barriers to improvement and the action needed to strengthen delivery. Local health economies are selected to provide the broadest possible picture of the state of delivery of a particular priority.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Equality Act

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what representations she has received on regulations applying the Equality Act 2006 to adoption; and if she will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly: The Prime Minister and I listened to the strongly-held views on all sides of this debate, before confirming that there would be no specific exemptions for faith-based adoption agencies. In the interests of children, however, the regulations will provide a transition period until the end of 2008.

European Year of Equal Opportunities for All

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what plans the Government have to mark the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All; and if she will make a statement.

Meg Munn: The Government will organise a series of events around the country, starting with a launch event in May. In so doing we will maximise the opportunities created by the European Year occurring in the same year as the formal opening of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

Minority Ethnic Communities

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps she is taking to encourage those in minority ethnic communities to integrate into wider community life.

Meg Munn: The Government's strategy to promote equality and cohesion "Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society" sets out the steps we are taking to encourage integration. The Commission on Integration and Cohesion published its interim report yesterday and its final report in June will provide advice on what more we can do.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Peace Keeping Operations

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what effect he expects the transfer of leadership of the NATO campaign in Helmand province to the US to have on  (a) poppy eradication activities,  (b) numbers of UK casualties and  (c) relations between NATO troops and Afghan civilians.

Des Browne: holding answer 8 February 2007
	There has been no transfer of command of the International Security Assistance Force mission in Helmand province, which remains under UK command. The transfer of overall command of the International Security Assistance Force to a composite HQ under the command of a US general took place in February and the UK will assume command of the two-star headquarters in Regional Command South in May 2007. NATO remains committed to the ISAF mission, including providing the necessary security to allow the Afghan government to conduct counter-narcotic operations. Transfers of command such as these are routine and do not indicate a change in the approved ISAF mission or in relations with the Afghan authorities or with civilians, nor do they necessarily have any implications for the number of UK casualties.

Armed Forces: Casualties

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many boards of inquiry have been conducted relating to the death of Private Jason Smith;
	(2)  whether all results from the boards of inquiry related to Private Jason Smith have been made available to his next of kin.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 19 February 2007
	One board of inquiry was conducted into the death of Private Jason Smith, but in two parts: the board convened initially in January 2004 and then reconvened in June 2004 to consider additional terms of reference. Only the second part has so far been released to the family; it was mistakenly assumed to have been the complete report. The first part of the board of inquiry, which is the main report that investigated the circumstances surrounding his death, is now being prepared for release in the normal way and will be released to Private Smith's family, their solicitor and Her Majesty's Coroner for Oxfordshire by early March.

Armed Forces: Pay

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the value of the long service advance of pay was in April of each year since 1997.

Derek Twigg: The value of the long service advance of pay (LSAP) in each financial year since 2001-02 is:
	
		
			  Financial year  Value (£ million) 
			 2001-02 20.35 
			 2002-03 20.39 
			 2003-04 16.23 
			 2004-05 14.76 
			 2005-06 16.39 
		
	
	Information for the period 1997 to 2000-01 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	As at 31 December 2006, £19,768,767.86 had been paid in LSAP during financial year 2006-07. The forecast LSAP expenditure for financial year 2006-07 is £26.36 million.

Armed Forces: Training

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures are taken to ensure that British service personnel are trained in  (a) language and  (b) culture of an area prior to operational deployment there.

Adam Ingram: All regular and reserve service personnel deploying on operations receive some level of language and cultural training.
	In terms of Army and Royal Marine personnel, this consists of specific courses aimed at developing language skills of selected personnel to three required proficiency levels: survival, basic patrol and operational linguist. Cascade training takes place at unit level during pre-deployment training over anything up to six months. Once deployed, training is continued by language-proficient staff augmented by the Theatre Education Centre. Every soldier is also issued with a language card which is taught during pre-deployment training and is practised regularly by all in theatre. Education on the culture of an operational area is also provided during pre-deployment training. This is delivered through cultural awareness presentations to all troops. In addition, commanders and unit instructors are issued with cultural awareness material.
	Royal Air Force personnel who are due to deploy on operations as part of a non-formed unit will attend individual reinforcement training during which they will receive formal cultural training. Royal Air Force regiment personnel deploying as formed units undergo pre-deployment training which includes two different proficiency levels of language and cultural training depending on individual requirements.
	Royal Navy personnel receive theatre-specific briefings on cultural awareness prior to deploying on operations. Personnel are also issued with cultural appreciation booklets and are given language cards.

Departments: Equal Opportunities

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to implement the gender equality duty due to come into force on 6 April.

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department  (a) has taken and  (b) plans to take to ensure that it and related bodies are in compliance with the gender equality duty in the Equality Act 2006 by the April 2007 deadline.

Derek Twigg: In April, last year the Ministry of Defence published its overarching 'Equality and Diversity Scheme 2006-09'. It covers all of our activities, both military and civilian, and reflects not only the Department's statutory duties in respect of race, disability and gender but also those diversity strands not yet covered by specific public sector duties (age, sexual orientation and religion and belief).
	The Scheme is accompanied by an annual Action Plan which includes our gender equality priorities. We will be publishing a report against the targets that we set for 2006-07 later in the year as well as issuing a new Action Plan for 2007-08. In order to inform reports and the development of the next year's Action Plan, the Defence Analytical Services Agency will be collecting statistical data on the recruitment, retention and progression of women. The aim of all this work is to achieve real improvement in outcomes for the various diversity groups.
	Copies of the documents referred to are available in the Library of the House and can also be found on the Department's website at:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefenceAVhat WeDo/Personnel/EqualityAndDiversity/EqualityAnd DiversityScheme20062009.htm
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/Personnel/EqualityAndDiversity/EqualityAnd DiversityScheme20062009ActionPlan20062007.htm

Ex-servicemen

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people leaving the armed forces in each of the last two years were  (a) entitled to the full resettlement programme,  (b) entitled to the employment support programme and  (c) early service leavers.

Derek Twigg: The number of personnel leaving the armed forces in each of the last two years who were entitled to the full resettlement programme was 11,290 in 2004-05 and 12,800 in 2005-06. Those entitled to the employment support programme were 2,400 in 2004-05 and 2,170 in 2005-06. There were 8,830 early service leavers in 2004-05 and 6,930 in 2005-06.
	Before 1 March 2006 only service leavers who had served 16 or more years or who were medically discharged from the trained strength were entitled to access Career Transition Partnership (CTP) resettlement programmes: other access was on the basis of eligibility. The figures for access to CTP services quoted above include both entitled and eligible service leavers. Before 1 March 2006, those eligible to the full resettlement programme were service leavers from the trained strength who had served between five years and 16 years in the armed forces and any medical discharges from the untrained strength.
	Early service leavers are defined as those compulsorily discharged for administrative or disciplinary reasons from the armed forces under circumstances incurring forfeiture of loss of eligibility/entitlement to normal resettlement provision, and those who are discharged from the untrained strength at their own request with less than four years military service.

Ex-servicemen: Military Decorations

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received pressing for the UK armed forces veterans lapel badge to be automatically sent to veterans who are qualified to receive it; and what consideration he has given to taking that step.

Derek Twigg: We have received no requests for automatic distribution to veterans of the HM armed forces veteran's badge. The MOD does not have the information on surviving veterans or their addresses that would be required to send a badge to all those eligible. This is why they are requested to apply for their badge. However, all members of the regular armed forces are now automatically given the option of receiving the badge when they leave their Service. Members of the reserve forces are also now entitled to receive a badge on retirement. We are examining how we could improve the arrangements for them to receive the badge.

Falkland Islands

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what grants have been made available to groups to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War.

Derek Twigg: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 6 November 2006,  Official Report, column 805-806W. No grants are available from the Department specifically for community arranged Falklands commemorations. However, a total of £230,000 is being made available by the MOD for Veterans' Day events on or around the annual 27 June Veterans' Day, many of which we expect will have a strong Falklands' theme this year. Funding, up to a maximum of £10,000 per bid is available for events which meet the funding criteria, full details of which are available on the Veterans Agency website at:
	www.veteransagency.mod.uk.
	The website also includes a Calendar of Events, including Veterans' Day celebrations and Falklands' commemorations around the UK.

Military Personnel: Northern Ireland

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of British military personnel is garrisoned in Northern Ireland.

Adam Ingram: At 15 January 2007, the number of armed forces personnel based in Northern Ireland on operational duties under Operation BANNER was 7,540. This equates to 4.3 per cent. of UK regular forces and Royal Irish Regiment (Home Service) Trained Strength at 1 January 2007.
	United Kingdom Defence Statistics (UKDS) table 7.2 shows the number of service personnel committed to and deployed in Northern Ireland at 1 April each year and can be found at:
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/ukds/2006/c7/table72.html
	Copies of UKDS are available in the Library of the House and also at:
	www.dasa.mod.uk

Nuclear Weapons

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he plans to take to encourage public debate and feedback on the Government's conclusions on the future of the UK nuclear deterrent.

Des Browne: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 February 2007,  Official Report, column 323W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Morley and Rothwell (Colin Challen).

Parliamentary Questions

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will answer question  (a) 101936, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway, and  (b) 101935, on biological research, tabled by the hon. Member for Portsmouth South for answer on 20 November 2006.

Des Browne: I replied to question 101936 on 19 February 2007,  Official Report, columns 318-19W and my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State (Mr. Ingram) replied to question 101935 on 1 February 2007,  Official Report, columns 510-511W.

Parliamentary Questions

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many questions tabled in Session 2005-06 for written answer by his Department did not receive a substantive answer in that Session.

Derek Twigg: Our records show 49 parliamentary questions were not answered in the 2005-06 Session.

Parliamentary Questions

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many parliamentary questions were tabled to his Department for answer on a named day in the last parliamentary session; how many received a holding answer; and what the average time taken between issuing a holding answer and a substantive answer was.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 15 January 2007
	Our records show that in Session 2005-06, 1,178 named day questions were tabled to the Ministry of Defence. I am unable to provide a breakdown of the questions as the information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

SCOTLAND

Departments: Appeals

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many independent bodies existed to hear appeals on decisions made by his Department in  (a) 1997-98,  (b) 2001-02 and  (c) 2005-06; and how many there have been in 2006-07 to date.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. The only relevant Executive function undertaken by the Office is the handling of election accounts where disputes may be referred to the Auditor of the Court of Session.

Departments: Complaints

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many complaints were received by his Department in  (a) 1997-98,  (b) 2001-02 and  (c) 2005-06; and how many were received in 2006-07 to date.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. The Office has no information on complaints made in 2001-02; received one complaint in 2005-06; and has received no complaints since 1 April 2006.

Departments: Complaints

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff worked in dedicated complaints units in his Department in  (a) 1997-98,  (b) 2001-02 and  (c) 2005-06; and how many have done so in 2006-07 to date.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999; since that date, the Office has had no staff dedicated to dealing with complaints.

Freedom of Information

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 2 February 2007,  Official Report, columns 573-74W, on freedom of information (FOI), what the grounds were for each non-publication of an FOI request referred to in the answer of 24 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1769W, on Freedom of Information on the Department's website.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office publishes on its website all responses to requests where new information is actually released but not when the reply is that we do not hold the information, or that it is available elsewhere in the public domain, or where the information is withheld because exemptions apply. The grounds for each non-publication of an FOI request referred to in my answer of 24 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1769W, are therefore as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 No information held by the Scotland Office 20 
			 Information available in the public domain 6 
			 Information withheld because exemptions apply 4

WORK AND PENSIONS

Children in Poverty

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of children in Ribble Valley constituency lived in workless households in each year since 1979-80.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 29 November 2006
	Data are only available from April 2004. The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  A workless household is a household containing someone claiming either income support, jobseeker's allowance, incapacity benefit/severe disability allowance, or pension credit for Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency 
			  As at April each year:  Percentage of dependent children in workless households 
			 2004 6.2 
			 2005 6.0 
			 2006 5.4 
			  Notes: 1. All data represent a snapshot in time of claimants on the computer system and will therefore exclude a very small number of cases that are held clerically. 2. Geo-referencing tools, obtained from the Office of National Statistics, have been used to assign claimants to geographies. 3. Data represents children dependent on a parent/guardian who is claiming one or more of income support, jobseeker's allowance, incapacity benefit/severe disability allowance, or pension credit. 4. Due to the introduction of child tax credits in April 2003, information on child dependents are not reliably completed on the benefit computer system. Therefore, children have been merged onto IS/JSA/IB/SDA/PC claims from child benefit records with permission of HMRC. The total numbers of children on child benefit has been used as the denominator for the percentages given. 5. Figures for Ribble Valley include the wards of Preston Rural East and Preston Rural North, which are partly in Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency.  Source: DWP Information Directorate, April 2006

Correspondence

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when staff in Jobcentre Plus, Tothill street expect to reply to the letters dated  (a) 13 July 2006 and  (b) 19 September 2006 from the hon. Member for Edinburgh West on Mrs. Margaret Mclean of Edinburgh.

Anne McGuire: Jobcentre Plus replied to the hon. Member's letter on 11 August 2006. A further copy of the letter has been provided separately to the hon. Member.

Health and Safety Executive: Prosecutions

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many prosecutions were brought in each of the last five years by the Health and Safety Executive in  (a) magistrates courts and  (b) Crown court; in what proportion the pleas were guilty; and in how many cases where the plea was not guilty the defendants were convicted.

Anne McGuire: The following table presents: the number of prosecutions brought by the HSE's Field Operations Directorate (FOD) that received their final hearing in each of the years 2001-02 to 2004-05 in magistrates courts and Crown court (Column A); the numbers of guilty pleas (Column B); and, the number (Column C) and percentage (Column D) of not guilty pleas resulting in conviction (excluding charges withdrawn). Validated data for 2005-06 is not available at this point in time.
	
		
			  Charges decided 
			   Not guilty plea: Of which 
			  Not guilty plea: Of which   Convicted 
			   A  Total number  B  Guilty plea  Not  Guilty plea  Charges withdrawn  Charges proceeded  Found not guilty  C  Number  D  Percentage 
			  Magistrates court 
			 2001-02 1251 1024 227 179 48 10 38 79 
			 2002-03 1078 881 197 152 45 13 32 71 
			 2003-04 1051 880 171 124 47 15 32 68 
			 2004-05 862 674 188 151 37 8 29 78 
			  
			  Crown court 
			 2001-02 303 226 77 61 16 7 9 56 
			 2002-03 266 170 96 61 35 14 21 60 
			 2003-04 276 202 74 32 42 23 19 45 
			 2004-05 212 152 60 27 33 10 23 70

Income Levels

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what percentage of  (a) households and  (b) individuals in each region and country received less than 40 per cent. of the UK median income in the last period for which figures are available.

Jim Murphy: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
	The most common and internationally recognised threshold to measure poverty is income below 60 per cent. of median. We do not present information covering 40 per cent. of median income in our households below average income series as it is not a good measure of poverty. This is because for a number of those households with an income below this level, their incomes will not reflect their living standards. There are a number of reasons why these households' living standards tend to be higher than their incomes suggest, for example this low income may be a temporary phenomenon. In addition, it is widely recognised that there are difficulties in obtaining timely and accurate income information from self-employed people.
	We measure progress on child poverty using three indicators: absolute low income, relative low income and relative low income and material deprivation combined. This three tiered measure provides the right balance between clarity and comprehensiveness. In March 2005, UNICEF called the UK measure transparent, credible and not too complicated to be useful.
	Specific information regarding low income for Great Britain is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994/95-2004/05" (HBAI). This annual report, which is a National Statistics publication, includes the numbers and proportions of individuals, children, working age adults and pensioners with incomes below 50 per cent. 60 per cent. and 70 per cent. of median income, and the proportions in persistent poverty. The 60 per cent. median income level, before housing costs, is the internationally recognised threshold of low income.
	Our aim, to ensure that every child gets the best start in life and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential, is to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020. This is the first time that any government has set itself such a goal. By setting these targets, we have ensured that we have made huge progress, and that we will continue to do so.

Industrial Injuries Benefit

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what entitlement the self-employed have to industrial injuries benefit; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Murphy: Industrial injuries disablement benefit is payable to employed earners who suffer a loss of faculty through an industrial accident or prescribed disease and is not available to those who are self-employed. Those who undertake self-employment therefore should make their own provision against industrial injury, and private insurance is available to them. However, we are carrying out a review of the current industrial injuries disablement benefit scheme and will look at all aspects of the scheme.

Official Visits: Australia

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  which organisations and individuals he is due to meet on his forthcoming visit to Australia;
	(2)  whether he will be accompanied on his forthcoming visit to Australia by the Chief Executive of the Portland Trust in the capacity as advisor on the Government's review of its welfare to work strategy;
	(3)  what the estimated cost is of his forthcoming visit to Australia.

John Hutton: I had an extensive range of engagements to learn about Australian welfare and employment service reforms including: meetings with my Australian ministerial counterparts; Members of the Australian House of Representatives; officials from the Department for Employment and Workplace Relations; Centrelink and Job Network; social partners including the Salvation Army, Mission Australia and the Social Policy Research Centre; and site visits to a Child Support Service Agency, a Family Relations Centre, Marrickville Training Centre Work Solutions and Cabramatta Customer Services Centre.
	The Chief Executive of the Portland Trust did not accompany me on my visit to Australia.
	The estimated cost of the visit is £22,000.

Personal Accounts

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of the target audience for personal accounts who will be subject to means-testing in retirement in  (a) 2020,  (b) 2030,  (c) 2040,  (d) 2050 and  (e) 2060; and if he will make a statement.

James Purnell: The information is not available. Under the reforms to state pensions proposed in the Pensions Bill, we project that the proportion of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit will fall to around 30 per cent. by 2050, with only about one in 20 being eligible for the Guarantee Credit only, many of whom are unlikely to save for long periods in personal accounts.

Poverty Statistics

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) children and  (b) pensioners were recorded as living in poverty in (i) the UK, (ii) the North East, (iii) South Tyneside and (iv) Jarrow constituency in each year since 1997.

Jim Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave on 2 November 2006,  Official Report, columns 631-32W.

State Retirement Pensions: Bristol

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of the state retirement pension there are in Bristol, East.

James Purnell: As at May 2006, there were 15,060 recipients of state pension in Bristol, East parliamentary constituency.
	 Notes:
	1. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest ten. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied.
	2. Parliamentary constituencies are those used for the Westminster Parliament.
	 Source
	DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

Translation Services

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what documents his Department and its agencies translate for people in the UK who do not speak English; into which languages such documents are translated; and what the cost was of producing such translations in each of the last five years, broken down by language of translation.

Anne McGuire: The Department and its Businesses produce translated materials where relevant and according to the needs of each target audience. Information on languages and the costs of translation is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Welfare to Work Review

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the review of the Welfare to Work programmes being conducted by David Freud is intended to deliver specific recommendations for structural changes to the benefits system; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 2 February 2007
	The areas that David Freud's review are intended to cover are set out in its terms of reference, which are:
	"to review progress on Welfare to Work programmes since 1997, taking account of evidence from the UK and international experience, and make recommendations on how the Government can build on its success in using policies such as the new deal to continue to reduce inactivity and in-work poverty, and to help meet the Government's 80 per cent. employment aspiration."
	It is possible that David Freud will include among his recommendations some specific to the benefits system to deliver these terms of reference. Recommendations resulting from the review will be carefully considered.

Winter Fuel Payments

Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of winter fuel payments were calculated wrongly due to failures of the Data Matching System in the last year for which figures are available.

James Purnell: No winter fuel payments were calculated incorrectly due to failures of the Data Matching System in respect of winter 2006-07.

Winter Fuel Payments

Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many winter fuel payments were incorrectly calculated during 2006; and how many had not been correctly paid within one month of the Pension Service being notified of the error.

James Purnell: No winter fuel payments were calculated incorrectly in respect of winter 2006-07.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Coroners

Mike Wood: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many inquests are awaiting hearing in coroner's courts; and what the average time taken from death to the conclusion of an inquest is, broken down by type of coroner's verdict.

Harriet Harman: The latest available statistical information on coroners relates to the calendar year 2005. There were 10,033 inquests awaiting a hearing in coroners' courts on 31 December 2005, and the average time taken to conduct an inquest, based on the statistical information returned by coroners for the year 2005, was estimated to be 23 weeks (around five months).
	No information is available on the average time taken to conduct an inquest broken down separately by verdict.

Departments: Freedom of Information

David Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether  (a) she,  (b) other Ministers and  (c) officials in her Department have been consulted by hon. Members over the drafting of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill; and if she will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: Where a private Member's Bill receives Second Reading, the Government will often suggest drafting changes to ensure the Bill is technically correct. This is in line with the Cabinet Office's "Guide to Legislative Procedure". In this case my Department provided recommendations to the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (David Maclean) on how his Bill would fit with the Freedom of Information Act's provisions.

Departments: Freedom of Information

Michael Wills: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department of monitoring the time spent processing requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the purposes of the proposed fees regulations.

Vera Baird: In spring 2006 my Department conducted an exercise across central Government Departments to assess the time taken to process Freedom of Information requests received in a monitored period.
	No data were collected to estimate the cost of conducting this exercise.

Departments: Official Cars

Mark Francois: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many vehicles belonging to her Department were  (a) lost and  (b) stolen in each year since 1997; and what the (i) make and model and (ii) value was of each vehicle.

Vera Baird: My Department has no recorded incidents of vehicles lost since 1997. The number of vehicles belonging to or leased by my Department recorded stolen in each year is set out in the following table:
	
		
			   Make and model  Value of vehicle (£) 
			 1998 Rover 218 (1)— 
			 2000 Rover 420 1,843 
			 2000 Citroen Saxo 6,350 
			 2001 Vauxhall Astra 7,050 
			 2001 Fiat Punto 5,900 
			 2002 Vauxhall Astra 2,297 
			 2003 Ford Focus 1,834 
			 2005 Citroen Xsara 5,955 
			 (1) Data not available

Departments: Pendle

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what expenditure is planned to be carried out in Pendle by her Department in the years up to 2010; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird: This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost to my Department for 2006-07 and 2007-08. Furthermore, expenditure beyond 2007-08 will be planned and allocated as part of the comprehensive spending review later this year.

Electoral Register: Ethnic Groups

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what action the Government are taking to encourage more black and minority ethnic people to register to vote.

Bridget Prentice: The Government have introduced several measures to encourage black and ethnic minority (BME) people to register. These include:
	The 1824 Collective campaign, which was aimed at encouraging BME groups and young people to register before the London borough elections in May 2006.
	The Electoral Administration Act 2006 which includes a new duty on electoral registration officers (EROs) to take all necessary steps to ensure comprehensive registers.
	Moving the deadline for registration to just 11 days before an election.
	The independent Electoral Commission will be setting performance standards for registration services.
	The Government are also committed to working closely with BME groups and the Electoral Commission to support voter education activities, including information and awareness work, within BME communities.

Freedom of Information

Michael Wills: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when she expects to bring forward new fees regulations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Vera Baird: The public consultation on the proposed amendments to the fee regulations closes on 8 March 2007. Only after the consultation responses have been carefully analysed and considered will the question of laying regulations before Parliament be addressed.

Freedom of Information

Michael Wills: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when she expects to publish the results of the current consultation on fees regulations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Vera Baird: A summary of the responses to the consultation will be published within three months of the end of the consultation period in line with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Consultation.

Maintenance: Children

David Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  what the average time taken was  (a) to assess and  (b) to secure the first payment in child maintenance cases in the courts (i) prior to the establishment of the Child Support Agency and (ii) in the last year for which figures are available;
	(2)  what the average child maintenance liability of non-resident parents established by the courts was  (a) prior to the establishment of the Child Support Agency and  (b) in the last year for which figures are available.

Harriet Harman: This information is not collected by the court IT system in the form requested. No data are available prior to the establishment of the Child Support Agency as this predates the introduction of an IT system into the family courts. Information on the date of the first payment in child maintenance cases in the courts is not collected by the courts. Information on the child maintenance liability of non-resident parents in child maintenance cases in the courts is also not recorded by the courts' IT system.

WALES

Hospitals: Wales

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Welsh Assembly Ministers on the cross-border provision of hospital care.

Peter Hain: I have regular discussions with my Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues as the need arise. I also meet the Welsh Assembly First Minister on a regular basis, when we discuss a range of issues, including cross-border provision of healthcare.

Tata Group: Wales

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he plans to meet Tata Group managers to discuss their plans for their operations in Wales.

Peter Hain: I have monitored the situation at Corus very closely, and had contact with both Tata and CSN about their plans.
	The Tata chairman Ratan Tata assured me that British steel-making in Wales would have a long and healthy future with Tata. I hope to meet him again in the near future.
	With investment of £16 million already pledged for the Port Talbot steel slab facility and over £300 million capital investment during the last five years, Welsh steel plants will remain critical for Corus operations and will continue to be a key part of the company's future.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Big Lottery Fund: Community Development

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  how many  (a) applications and  (b) outline proposals were made to the Reaching Communities programme in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what estimate she has made of the length of time taken to produce an acceptable  (a) outline proposal and  (b) application for an award from the Reaching Communities programme;
	(3)  if she will publish the scoring system used by the Reaching Communities programme for assessing applications for funding;
	(4)  how much was paid out from the Reaching Communities programme in each of the last five years; and what the average award was in each year;
	(5)  how much was sought via applications and outline proposals to the Reaching Communities programme in each of the last five years.

Richard Caborn: Information about applications for grants to lottery distributors and how they were handled is not held by my Department, nor would it be proper for us to hold it as these bodies decide individual grants independent of Ministers. I have asked the chief executive of the Big Lottery Fund to write to the hon. Member.

Departments: Internet

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which URLs her Department has registered in the 2006-07 financial year; at what cost; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: My Department has not registered any URLs in the 2006-07 financial year.

Departments: Pendle

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what expenditure is planned to be carried out in Pendle by her Department in the years up to 2010; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: My Department has no specific spending plans for Pendle in the current financial year. Decisions on expenditure for the financial years 2008-09 up to 2010-11 will be made as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review process, which will conclude this year.

Departments: Retirement

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many employees from her Department were asked to retire upon reaching 65 years of age as a result of the Department's mandatory retirement policy in each year since 1997.

David Lammy: In the Department for Culture, Media and Sport no employees have been asked to retire upon reaching 65 years as a result of the Department's mandatory retirement policy. The department's new retirement age policy, which has a default retirement age of 65, came into effect from 1 October 2006 with the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulation 2006.

Departments: Theft

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what items valued at above £100 were reported as stolen from her Department's buildings or premises in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport had only one item valued at above £100, a laptop, reported as stolen in the last 12 months.

Executive Agencies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which of the Executive agencies of her Department have regional offices outside London.

David Lammy: The Royal Parks, which is the Department's only Executive agency, does not have any regional offices outside London.

Executive Agencies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which Executive agencies are the responsibility of her Department; what the function is of each agency; and what the annual budget was of each agency in the most recent year for which figures are available.

David Lammy: The Royal Parks (TRP) is the only Executive agency of DCMS. It manages nine royal parks: St. James' park (including Horse Guards Parade), Hyde park, Green park, Richmond park, Bushy park, Regent's park and Primrose Hill, Greenwich park and Kensington Gardens, together with a small number of other public spaces in the capital. Information about the Royal Parks' annual budget can be found in the Royal Parks annual report and accounts 2005-06. The annual report and accounts were laid in the House on 19 July 2006.

National Lottery: Chorley

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the purpose was of each lottery grant to organisations in Chorley constituency in each of the last three years.

Richard Caborn: 183 awards worth over £3.8 million were made by lottery distributing bodies in the Chorley constituency during the calendar years 2004, 2005 and 2006. The total value and number of awards is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Calendar year  Award amount (£)  Number of awards 
			 2004 2,291,924.00 68 
			 2005 954,271.00 55 
			 2006 593,387.00 60 
		
	
	To describe the purpose of each of these 183 grants individually could only be done at a disproportionate cost.
	This information in the table is derived from the Department's grants database, searchable at www.lottery.culture.gov.uk, which uses information supplied by the lottery distributors, and gives details of individual awards.

Non-departmental Public Bodies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which non-departmental public bodies are sponsored by her Department; what the function is of each body; and what the budget was of each body in the most recent year for which figures are available.

David Lammy: Details of the remit, Government funding and gross expenditure of public bodies sponsored by DCMS can be found in the Cabinet Office publication "Public Bodies 2006", copies of which are in the Library and which is also available online at:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/other/agencies/publications/pdf/public-bodies/publicbodies2006.pdf

Olympic Games

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the economic benefit which will be derived from providing spectator accommodation for the Olympic Games, broken down by London borough; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The quality of accommodation in London will be crucial to the success of the Government's forthcoming strategy to maximise the success of the 2012 Games. The London boroughs have not projected the likely tourism benefits to accommodation providers of hosting the Games. However, the London Business Board estimates the total benefit to the London economy at £1.5 billion. A high proportion of this is likely to accrue to businesses offering accommodation in the capital.

Olympic Games

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on the draft Transport Plan for the 2012 Olympic Games in relation to enhancing public transport provision to outer London boroughs, broken down by London borough; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has received almost 200 written responses to the consultation on its Transport Plan for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The ODA is currently considering those responses, including those made on behalf of outer London boroughs.

Playing Fields

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many new playing fields have been established since 2005-06; and how many existing playing fields were converted to other uses in the same period.

Richard Caborn: Information relating to changes in playing field provision for 2005-06 is not yet available. My Department published in October 2006 statistics on planning applications made in relation to playing fields during 2004-05. These show that in that year 62 new playing fields were created against 47 which suffered a detrimental impact and of which two were wholly converted to other uses.

Swimming Pools: Kent

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions  (a) she and  (b) Sport England have had with Kent county council on the funding of 50 metre swimming pools at (i) Ashford and (ii) the University of Kent.

Richard Caborn: Neither I nor Sport England has had any discussions with Kent county council about funding for 50 metre swimming pools at either of these sites.
	However, Sport England was involved in a PFI bid by Ashford borough council that included a 50 metre pool and has had a preliminary discussion direct with the University of Kent on the provision of a 50 metre pool on their campus.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Animal Welfare

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what role the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative plays in delivering the animal welfare dimensions of the Government's Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: DEFRA is encouraging public sector bodies to specify higher animal welfare standards and, for that reason, has developed a new model specification clause. This promotes farm assurance standards, including those of higher level schemes such as Freedom Foods or equivalent. The model clause allows buyers to give a higher weighting for produce that meets higher level standards when awarding contracts. It is included in DEFRA's Catering Services and Food Procurement Toolkit.

Departmental Expenditure

Brooks Newmark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent by his Department on buying, operating and supporting  (a) all commercial software products and  (b) software products produced by Microsoft was in each of the last three years.

Barry Gardiner: In October 2004 DEFRA outsourced its IT capabilities, forming a strategic partnership with IBM. IBM now provides Defra with end-to-end IT and business change services, this includes the provision of software.
	It is therefore not possible to separately identify the cost of buying, operating and supporting software from the cost of providing desktop services as a whole.
	The total cost of desktop services provided to core-DEFRA for the financial years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 is approximately £7.4 million, £13.6 million and £11.9 million respectively.
	The level of information requested is not available prior to October 2004 as the necessary accounting codes needed to identify this expenditure were not in place.

Departments: Equal Opportunities

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to implement the gender equality duty due to come into force on 6 April.

Barry Gardiner: The Department has developed a joint equality scheme to address the requirements of equalities legislation. In order to take steps to meet the requirements of the forthcoming duty, DEFRA's joint scheme which currently addresses both disability and race legislation, will now be focused on the new gender equality duties.
	In addressing the forthcoming gender equality duties, DEFRA will continue to place a requirement upon all its business areas to carry out initial equality impact assessments on all its policies, processes and services. Where gender impacts are identified through the initial screening process, a full assessment will then be undertaken and the actions to be put in place monitored.
	DEFRA already has established policies to address unlawful discrimination, bullying and harassment within the Department together with an equal opportunities policy that covers actions to promote equality between men and women.
	The steps that DEFRA is taking will conform with those set out in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) Order 2006 and work arising from this new legislation will be incorporated into the Department's joint equality scheme for publication by 30 April 2007.

Departments: Incentives

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total sum of bonuses paid to civil servants in his Department was in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006.

Barry Gardiner: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer given on 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 578W.

Departments: Orders and Regulations

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many regulations brought forward by his Department came into force in 2006.

Barry Gardiner: To the best of our knowledge, 128 statutory instruments came into force in 2006.

Energy: Conservation

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government's consultation on the third phase of the Energy Efficiency Commitment covering 2008-11 will include a section on smart metering with two way communications systems.

Ian Pearson: I refer the hon. Member to the reply of 1 February 2007,  Official Report, column 448W.
	Responses from the consultation, which ended on 6 February 2007, will help to formulate our position on billing and metering issues to be published in the forthcoming Energy White Paper.

Energy: Conservation

Tim Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what research his Department plans to carry out on the impact of smart metering with two way communication systems on consumer domestic usage;
	(2)  what future impact the Government estimates smart metering will have on consumer domestic usage.

Ian Pearson: The Energy Services Directive and the 2006 Energy Review included measures relating to the metering of energy consumption. We will report on these in the forthcoming Energy White Paper.

Freedom of Information

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs on the application of Freedom of Information regulations to private companies performing public services.

Barry Gardiner: In the course of official business I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a wide range of issues.

Genetically Modified Organisms

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when he expects copies of the individual responses to the consultation on proposals for managing the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops in England to be publicly available;
	(2)  how many responses his Department received during the consultation on proposals for managing the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops in England from  (a) members of the public,  (b) non-government organisations,  (c) farming organisations,  (d) farmers,  (e) local authorities,  (f) food companies,  (g) biotechnology companies and their representatives,  (h) the organic industry and  (i) research institutions;
	(3)  when his Department expects to make a summary of the responses to the consultation on proposals for managing the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops in England available on the Department's website.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 21 February 2007
	We are still analysing and categorising the responses to the coexistence consultation. Approximately 11,200 responses were received in total (counting each signature on a petition as an individual response). A provisional breakdown indicates that approximately 11,000 responses were received from members of the public, five from farming organisations, 18 from local authorities, five from biotechnology companies and their representative body, eight from organic groups (not including companies), three from research providers and 161 from other organisations, including non-governmental organisations and companies.
	We intend to publish a summary of the responses on the DEFRA website within the next few months. At that stage copies of the individual responses will be made available publicly via the DEFRA library, except where they are of a standard or pro-forma type, in which case one example will be made available along with confirmation of the total number of that type received.

Radioactive Wastes: Waste Management

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make a statement on his plans for an underground nuclear waste repository.

Ian Pearson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State responded to the report by the Committee on the Management of Radioactive Waste (CoRWM) on 25 October 2006. In his response he accepted CoRWM's recommendation that the UK's higher activity waste should be managed, in the long term, through geological disposal. His response also accepted the continuing need for safe and secure interim storage until geological disposal is available.
	The UK Government and devolved Administrations are working together to prepare a public consultation document on the Government's framework for the implementation of geological disposal. This document, which we aim to publish later this year, will include an outline geological disposal delivery programme and proposals for a voluntarist/partnership approach to site selection.

Recycling: EC Law

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  which of the collection and recycling strategies outlined in the Battery Waste Management Life Cycle Assessment report his Department will adopt to meet the UK's obligations under the EC directive on batteries and accumulators; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what financial support his Department  (a) is offering and  (b) plans to offer to increase the capacity for the recycling of batteries to the level required to meet obligations under the EC Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators.

Ben Bradshaw: No decisions have yet been made as to what our collection and recycling strategy for batteries should be, or what financial support will be offered in order to meet obligations under the EC directive on batteries and accumulators. This is a producer responsibility directive and we are discussing the implementation with the businesses likely to be affected.
	We have asked the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to carry out work to determine the most cost effective way of collecting batteries to meet the targets under the forthcoming directive. Both WRAP's findings and ERM's Battery Waste Management Life Cycle Assessment report will be discussed with producers and used to assist policy development in this area.
	Consultation on the implementation of the batteries directive is in the initial stages and discussions with interested parties are ongoing. On 10 January, DEFRA and the Department of Trade and Industry jointly held a 'Futurefocus' event with 19 industry representatives to brainstorm initial ideas about the directive. DEFRA also hosted an informal consultative workshop on 12 February where producers and other interested parties were able to discuss the possible implications of the directive for the UK.

Single Farm Payments

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the above budget cost was of administering the single farm payment scheme during 2006; and from where the extra resources will be drawn.

Barry Gardiner: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 30 October 2006,  Official Report, column 52W.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Developing Countries: Investment

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much private investment capital  (a) Actis and  (b) Aureos have attracted for private sector business in developing countries in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006 as a result of their own activities in those developing countries.

Hilary Benn: Actis raised US$ 453.2 million of third party capital for investment in developing countries in 2005 and US$ 137.0 million in 2006.
	Aureos raised US$ 36.7 million in 2005 and US$ 71.3 million in 2006.

Development Aid

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2007,  Official Report, column 165W, on development aid, what spending by HM Treasury counted as Official Development Assistance in each year since 2001, broken down by  (a) programme and  (b) agency.

Hilary Benn: DFID is responsible for reporting UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This also includes reporting ODA expenditure from other UK Government Departments. HM Treasury funds a proportion of UK ODA, but these contributions are estimated by DFID. The following table sets out the breakdown of Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded from HM Treasury since 2001.
	
		
			  £000 
			  HM Treasury ODA  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Gift Aid(1) 30,303 39,873 43,868 45,312 52,922 
			 EC Administration(2) 18,268 20,136 35,124 38,938 37,286 
			 Total HM Treasury ODA 48,571 60,009 78,992 84,250 90,208 
			 (1) Gift aid that is spent on international development can be scored as ODA and is funded from HM Treasury. However, the Treasury does not hold this information and it is estimated from a survey of UK civil society organisations carried out by DFID. The survey asks how much they spend on development and how much tax claimed back under gift aid and deed of covenant. This is a voluntary survey so the information is not always complete, so the above figures will underestimate the amount of gift aid that is ODA. (2) DFID is responsible for funding the UK's contribution to the European Community (EC) development programme and HM Treasury funds the remainder of the UK's contribution to the EC including administration costs. The proportion of EC administration costs that are attributed to the EC development programme can be scored as ODA and these figures are estimated by DFID and included in the table.

Development Aid

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2007,  Official Report, column 165W, on development aid, what spending by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was counted as Official Development Assistance in each year since 2001, broken down by  (a) programme and  (b) agency.

Hilary Benn: DFID is responsible for reporting UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. This also includes reporting ODA expenditure from other UK Government Departments. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) provides DFID annually with estimates of ODA expenditure. DFID then quality assures these reports to ensure the DAC directives are followed and reports the relevant expenditure as ODA to the OECD-DAC. The following table sets out the available breakdown of the FCO ODA which was reported to the OECD-DAC since 2001.
	
		
			  Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Official Development Assistance (ODA)—breakdown 
			  £ GBP thousand 
			   2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 Drug Related Assistance (joint with Home Office) 7,294 9,172 9,029 4,630 12,342 
			   
			 Programme — — — 11,817 11,253 
			  Economic Governance  —  —  —  —  5,193 
			  Environment  —  —  —  —  1,032 
			  Human Rights and Democracy  —  —  —  —  5,029 
			 Justice and Home Affairs — — — 287 1,529 
			 Chevening — — — 16,000 12,259 
			 Administration 10,000 10,000 20,000 18,263 13,312 
			 Contributions to Commonwealth Organisations 734 753 773 798 813 
			 Support to Global Conflict Prevention Pools — — 24,000 25,916 21,582 
			 International Subscription to United Nations Regular Budget — — — 6,500 6,578 
			 International Subscription to Red Cross — — — 500 600 
			 British Council 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 
			   
			 Total FCO ODA 48,037 49,925 83,802 114,711 110,267

Development Aid

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 164-6W, on Development Aid; if he will break down by main budget heading the figure of -£11,884,000 listed for the CDC Group in 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: Under the rules set by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), new equity investments by CDC count as Official Development Assistance (ODA). However, the sale of investments counts as negative ODA. In 2005, CDC's purchase of equities of £136.075 million was exceeded by the sale of investments which totalled -£181.898 million. Other CDC figures included investments of £9.428 million, principal repayments of £0.134 million, administration costs of £6.156 million, and debt relief under Naples Terms of £18.221 million. This leaves a net sum of -£11.884 million.
	Due to market conditions, there will be occasions when the sale of investments is commercially the most appropriate strategy for CDC. This was the case in 2005, leading to this small negative ODA figure. Cash receipts are retained by CDC for subsequent re-investment in accordance with its agreed mission of investing in private sector enterprises in the poorer countries. These new investments will count towards ODA in future years.

Globeleq: Renewable Energy

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether any investments have been made by Globeleq in renewable energy; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: Globeleq has two investments in renewable hydroelectric energy, in Bolivia and Peru. These comprise approximately 12 per cent. of Globeleq's overall generation capacity.
	Seventry-two per cent. of Globeleq's generation capacity is fuelled by natural gas and the remainder by fuel oil.

TRANSPORT

Network Rail

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport to whom the chief executive of Network Rail is accountable.

Tom Harris: Network Rail is a private sector, not-for-dividend "company limited by guarantee" whose chief executive and board are accountable to approximately 100 members drawn from railway stakeholders.
	Network Rail is accountable in the public interest to the Office of Rail Regulation through the latter's independent safety and economic regulation.

Official Cars

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of miles travelled by cars in the Government Car and Despatch Agency in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: Cars in the Government Car and Despatch Agency fleet travelled approximately 2,394,200 miles in 2004-05 and 2,834,000 miles in 2005-06, the only years for which figures are available. Figures for earlier years could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
	These figures are for the entire car fleet operated by GCDA, including its short term hire and Green Car services. The increase in mileage in 2005-06 compared to 2004-05 mainly reflects increased use of GCDA's short term hire and Green Car services. Usage of the allocated car service for ministers and senior officials was broadly in line with the previous year.

Railways

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress his Department has made on extending selective door opening on trains.

Tom Harris: The DfT has commissioned a research project into the production of a UK industry standard for selective door opening (SDO). The research report is currently in draft form and is being considered by the cross industry Systems Interface Committee. The research has considered the technical arid safety issues associated with the operation of SDO on trains as well as the need to ensure that the system is easy and foolproof for staff to operate and that passengers are well informed in advance about restrictions on alighting from part of the train, ideally before they get on board.
	The final report is scheduled to be published in the spring 2007.

Railways: Passengers

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the projected increase in rail passenger numbers is in  (a) London,  (b) South West London and  (c) Richmond Park constituency over the next (i) five, (ii) 10 and (iii) 15 years.

Tom Harris: The Department does not have a breakdown of projected passenger increases in the form requested by the hon. Member. The projected increase for passenger demand in the Southern Regional Planning Assessment area, which includes the areas mentioned, between 2002-03 and 2016 is 18.7 per cent.

Railways: Portsmouth

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the consequences to customers using  (a) Portsmouth and Southsea and  (b) Portsmouth Harbour railway stations of delays with the re-signalling project.

Tom Harris: The Department requires all train operating companies to implement plans that have due regard to the consequences for passengers because of engineering works.

Railways: Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average delay was for the One operated rail service between Romford Station and Liverpool Street Station was in each year since 2004.

Tom Harris: Delay to train services is reported as Public Performance Measure (PPM), at an aggregate level for the Train Operating Company 'One', of which the Romford to Liverpool Street service is a part. The Department does not, therefore, hold specific delay information related to the Romford to Liverpool Street service.

South West Trains: Rolling Stock

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many carriages operated by South West Trains were built before 1985.

Tom Harris: South West Trains have a fleet of around 1330 passenger carriages. The oldest are the Class 455 units, comprising 364 vehicles. They were built between 1980 and 1985 but have been going through a refurbishment which involves a major upgrading of the interiors including seating, lighting and accessibility improvements.

Speed Limits: Cameras

Daniel Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many SPECS cameras were installed for evaluation purposes in each local authority area in each year since 2003; and at what cost in each case.

Stephen Ladyman: The number of SPECS cameras installed since 2003 is as follows. The table indicates the local authority area, the date each site was established and the location:
	
		
			  Local authority  Date established  Location/site name 
			 Nottinghamshire 1 March 2004 66004/Arnold Road/Nottingham 
			 Nottinghamshire 29 March 2004 Edwards Lane/Nottingham 
			 Northamptonshire 6 August 2004 A428/Bedford Road (SPECS) 
			 Nottinghamshire 14 December 2004 A631/Mill Hill/Gringley on the Hill 
			 London 1 June 2006 A3201/ Upper Thames Street 
		
	
	The implementation cost of individual sites is not held by the Department and will vary according to the time over distance system used and the nature and the layout of the site.

Waterloo Station

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when a decision will be made on the future domestic use of the former Eurostar platforms at London Waterloo station; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: The Department is currently working with Network Rail and South West Trains to refine the options for the conversion of Waterloo International to accommodate domestic passenger services. This work is expected to be completed in the spring of this year.

Waterloo Station

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the separate costing process for the former Eurostar platforms at London Waterloo station is expected to finish; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: The Department is currently working with Network Rail and the train operating company to refine the options for the conversion of Waterloo International to accommodate domestic passenger services. This work includes the costing of the options under consideration. This work is expected to be completed in the spring.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Catering Services: House of Commons

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether the Refreshment Department has held discussions with  (a) Sustain and  (b) other outside organisations on the development of a procurement policy that supports sustainable food supplies and the consideration of food miles.

Nick Harvey: The Director of Catering Services and the Refreshment Department Purchasing Manager met with Sustain in May 2005. Their "Sustainable Food Chains" briefing papers and "Good Food on the Public Plate" manual were disseminated to senior managers and a project was initiated to develop a sustainable food procurement strategy. Due to staff turnover, it has not been possible to take forward this work as originally intended, but the Director of Catering Services has remained in regular contact with Sustain, last meeting with their London Food Link Officer in November 2006. Following the recent appointment of a new Purchasing Manager and a new Executive Chef, it is intended that the project will be re-launched in 2007.
	No meetings have been held with other external organisations specifically with regard to the development of a sustainable food procurement policy, but a meeting with the Chairman of Food from Britain is planned shortly.
	Guidance has been obtained from various sources, including DEFRA's Public Sector Procurement Initiative, the European Commission's handbook "Buying Green", the Marine Conservation Society's Good Fish Guide and relevant Farm Assurance Schemes. Further information has been downloaded from websites including Seafish, Fairtrade, the Soil Association, Greenpeace, etc. and key points communicated to buyers, chefs and other catering staff together with information provided by suppliers.

Cost Effectiveness

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what recent external audits the Commission has commissioned to determine whether spending decisions taken by the Commission represent good value for money.

Nick Harvey: The Commission has appointed the Administration Estimate Audit Committee to oversee value for money issues on its behalf. The Audit Committee has reviewed a number of VFM audit reports from the Internal Review Service which works in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers. The most recently completed VFM studies were on agency staffing, the use of consultants and on cleaning services (phase II). The National Audit Office, the House's external auditors, produced a VFM study of the covered walkway in Star Chamber Court that was considered by the Audit Committee in March 2006.

Freedom of Information

David Laws: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission on which minuted occasions the Commission has discussed  (a) the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and hon. Members' correspondence and  (b) the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill since 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Harvey: The Commission or the Members Estimate Committee has discussed the Freedom of Information Act on many occasions since 2005 but the specific issue of Members' correspondence with other public authorities has been considered in detail only once. There has been only one meeting since the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill was introduced on 19 December and this was discussed briefly at that meeting.

House of Commons Commission

David Laws: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether representatives from the Department of Constitutional Affairs have attended meetings of the House of Commons Commission in the last two years.

Nick Harvey: No, but the Commission has given permission for House officials to discuss with DCA officials the guidance being prepared by the Department for public authorities responding to FOI requests involving Members' correspondence.

Pollution Control

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what steps he is taking to achieve a co-ordinated approach with the House of Lords to lessen the environmental footprint of the parliamentary estate.

Nick Harvey: Environmental issues are generally considered for the parliamentary estate as a whole. For example:
	Both Houses have adopted an Energy and Water Saving Policy and a Waste Management Policy and are supportive of the implementation strategies contained therein.
	The briefs for all works projects carried out for both Houses include energy efficiency requirements.
	The current environmental awareness raising campaign is targeted at both Houses; invitations to the guest speaker presentations are sent to staff of both Houses and the exhibition during Energy Saving Week in October 2006 was held in both Commons and Lords buildings.
	Energy efficiency training has been offered to staff of both Houses and members of the Energy Saving Group and the Waste Management Steering Group come from both Houses.
	The data on energy and water consumptions and waste recycling reported in the Serjeant at Arms Monthly Management Report and in the House of Commons Board of Management Performance Information Quarterly Report are for the entire estate, Commons and Lords combined.
	A report recommending the implementation of an environmental management system on the parliamentary estate has been approved by the Board of Management in the House of Commons and it will be presented to the House of Lords Management Board for approval soon.

Refreshment Department

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what steps have been taken to oversee the implementation of the golden rules by the Refreshment Department; and who is responsible for that oversight.

Nick Harvey: The 'five golden rules' are specific to the Terrace Cafeteria and Members' Tea Room. Implementation is the collective responsibility of the staff, supervisors and line management working in those areas, but no formal steps are anticipated to be necessary for this day-to-day staff management task. Within the senior management of the Refreshment Department, the Catering Operations Manager holds specific responsibility for the delivery of the customer service improvement project and the Director of Catering Services is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of high standards of customer service throughout the Refreshment Department.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill

Mark Durkan: To ask the Solicitor-General whether he has had discussions with  (a) the Prime Minister,  (b) the Director of Public Prosecutions and  (c) the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on "On the Runs" since the withdrawal of the Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill.

Mike O'Brien: Neither the Attorney-General nor I have discussed "On the Runs" with the Prime Minister. The Attorney-General has discussed the issue on a regular basis with the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland as part of the routine process of superintendence. He regularly meets with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in respect of his duties as a Criminal Justice Minister in Northern Ireland and the subject of "On the Runs" has arisen on a number of occasions. I have engaged in some of those discussions.
	The view of the Attorney-General has always been that the position of "On the Runs" can only be addressed by the prosecution process in a very limited way: by applying the usual test for prosecution to identify those cases where the evidential test is no longer met and, importantly, is no longer capable of being met. Given the serious nature of most of the offences concerned, the public interest is inevitably strongly in favour of prosecution. Political considerations play no part of that process.

Raymond McCord

Mark Durkan: To ask the Solicitor-General whether the Director of Public Prosecutions has received recommendations from the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland for criminal prosecutions under the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1988 in relation to her report into the murder of Raymond McCord junior and related matters.

Mike O'Brien: Section 58(2) of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 requires the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, where the ombudsman is of the view that an offence may have been committed by a member of the police force, to send a copy of the report to the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland with such recommendations as appear to the ombudsman to be appropriate.
	Recommendations as to prosecution are made by the investigating authority are received as, and treated as, confidential by the PPS. The responsibility of the Public Prosecution Service in every criminal case is to assess whether the evidence provided meets the test for prosecution. The PPS may also provide prosecutorial advice to investigators as to the evidence which may be required to prove particular criminal offences.
	In respect of the police ombudsman's investigation into the murder of Raymond McCord junior and related matters, the ombudsman, both in the statement made under the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998, and in public statements made by her, indicated her view that her investigation had not resulted in there being sufficient evidence to prosecute any individual for any offence.

Serious Fraud Office

Martin Horwood: To ask the Solicitor-General how he interprets his superintendency role in relation to the Director of the Serious Fraud Office; and whether relevant written protocols are in place.

Mike O'Brien: Under the Criminal Justice Act 1987, the Director of the Serious Fraud Office discharges his functions under the superintendence of the Attorney-General. The Director of the SFO has regular meetings with the Attorney-General to consider and discuss plans, policies and objectives for the SFO. In addition, the SFO briefs the Attorney-General about any case which is likely to involve issues which may be sensitive, complex or have wider importance. The Attorney-General and I are accountable in Parliament for issues concerning the SFO and the other prosecuting authorities we superintend. The SFO publish their annual report, setting out the progress they have made. The latest report can be viewed on the SFO website.

Serious Fraud Office

Martin Horwood: To ask the Solicitor-General what guidance he has given to the Serious Fraud Office  (a) orally and  (b) writing on the conduct of bribery investigations.

Mike O'Brien: Although there has been discussion about ongoing bribery investigations during routine meetings between the SFO and the Law Officers, no guidance has been given to the SFO on their conduct of bribery investigations.

Serious Fraud Office

Martin Horwood: To ask the Solicitor-General what account the Serious Fraud Office takes of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery in conducting relevant investigations.

Mike O'Brien: The Serious Fraud Office is the primary reporting authority for allegations of bribery of foreign public officials under the OECD Convention. The SFO assesses the allegations and after conducting research decides whether to investigate and, at a later stage, to prosecute.
	In any case of bribery of a foreign public official, and throughout the life of the investigation, the prohibitions contained in Article 5 would be taken into account by the Director of the SFO.

Stevens Report

Mark Durkan: To ask the Solicitor-General 
	(1)  whether he has had discussions with  (a) the Director of Public Prosecutions and  (b) the Prime Minister on the Stevens Report;
	(2)  on what date he received a copy of the report of the Stevens investigation; and on what date the report was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mike O'Brien: The Attorney-General has had discussions with the DPP about the Director's consideration of possible prosecutions arising out of the Stevens report as part of the normal process of superintendence. The Attorney-General has not discussed the Stevens report with the Prime Minister.
	I have had no discussions with either the Director or Prime Minister regarding the Stevens report.
	There was no single Stevens report. The Stevens team provided to the Public Prosecution Service a vast amount of material in the form of statements and documentary exhibits—including lengthy transcripts of interview. This material was submitted over a period of time which reflected the progress of their inquiry. The material would be accompanied by a covering report. The last report was received on 15 April 2003. It was the task of the PPS to analyse all the material provided, not to merely consider a police report. The analysis included cross referencing to earlier material that resulted from the two previous Stevens investigations and, in particular, prosecutorial decisions based on those investigations. The advice of senior counsel was sought and the Stevens team were asked to carry out further work.
	The Attorney-General has not seen the Stevens reports or the evidence submitted. The PPS, with the assistance of counsel, prepared a number of detailed analyses of the evidence and underlying legal principles. The analyses alone filled 16 files which were contained in eight separate binders. They were received by the Attorney-General's Office on different dates between mid 2004 and mid 2005. It is the nature of superintendence that the Director will discuss with the Attorney-General cases of particular complexity or seriousness. The decisions remain those of the Director.
	A great deal of additional work has been carried out since, including further advices from (three) senior counsel. Decisions are close to being finalised.

PRIME MINISTER

Departments: Flags

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Prime Minister on what dates the Union flag was flown from 10 Downing street since 2005.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 11 January 2007,  Official Report, column 650W.

Departments: Theft

David Davies: To ask the Prime Minister what items valued at above £100 were reported as stolen from his Office's buildings or premises in the last 12 months.

Tony Blair: None.

Human Trafficking

Anthony Steen: To ask the Prime Minister when he signed the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary, Home Office (Mr. Coaker) to the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) on 19 February 2007,  Official Report, column 110W.

Foreign Relations

John Hayes: To ask the Prime Minister what the cost to the public purse of each of his special envoys has been since establishment of each such post; and if he will make a statement.

Tony Blair: For details of special envoys, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 19 June 2006,  Official Report, columns 1614-15W.
	For details of remuneration for Baroness Symons, I refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Dr. Howells) gave to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 9 October 2006,  Official Report, column 451W. Other special envoys have not received remuneration.
	Special envoys are entitled to claim reasonable travel and subsistence expenses incurred as part of their work. These expenses are paid in accordance with existing Foreign and Commonwealth Office guidelines on allowances and subsistence. Information on expenses claimed by all the special envoys since the establishment of each such post could be provided only at disproportionate cost. There is no cost to the public purse for the travel of either Lord Levy or Lord Powell.

Intelligence Services: Annual Reports

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Prime Minister whether the 2005 annual reports of  (a) the Interception of Communications Commissioner and  (b) the Intelligence Service Commissioners have been submitted to him; and on what date he received them.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement I made to the House on 19 February 2007, Official Report, column 4WS.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Community Policing

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms he uses to monitor and evaluate the performance of safer neighbourhood teams in England and Wales.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Office monitors and evaluates neighbourhood policing nationally through a strategic research programme rather than measuring the performance of individual teams. Implementation is measured by repeat surveys of all forces and basic commaned units, and results are being compared with outcomes in the Police Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). Outcomes which should be affected include crime and antisocial behaviour, feelings of safety and security, and satisfaction with and confidence in the police. An additional study is testing theimpact of neighbourhood policing at a BCU level, following the successful evaluation of the ward level National Reassurance Policing Programme. Surveys are being carried out in four Pathfinder BCUs each matched to a comparison site, to measure change in public perceptions and experiences. Results will be published in due course.
	The Home Office also continues to assess police performance through PPAF. The statutory performance indicators in PPAF on public confidence in the police (2a) and perception of antisocial behaviour (10b) measure the impact of neighbourhood policing. Finally, HMIC's baseline assessments also provide a qualitative measure of neighbourhood policing delivery.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what change there was in the maximum award available under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in each year since 1997.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) at oral questions on 19 February 2007,  Official Report, column 17.

Driving Offences: Lancashire

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were prosecuted under the Road Traffic Act 1998 for failing to stop after an accident in Lancashire in each year since 1997.

Vernon Coaker: Available information taken from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and given in the following table shows the number of defendants prosecuted for the offence of 'failing to stop after an accident' under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 170 (4) from 1997 to 2005 (latest available).
	
		
			  Proceedings( 1)  at magistrates courts for accident offences( 2)  within Lancashire police force area, 1997 to 2005 
			   Number 
			 1997 211 
			 1998 211 
			 1999 185 
			 2000 187 
			 2001 205 
			 2002 161 
			 2003 205 
			 2004 163 
			 2005 165 
			 (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Aiding, abetting, causing or permitting accident offences under the RTA88 s. 170(4).  Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. Work is under way to ensure that the magistrates courts case management system currently being implemented by the Department for Constitutional Affairs reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.

EC Immigration

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 30 January 2007,  Official Report, column 12WS, on the Justice and Home Affairs Informal Council, if he will place in the Library a copy of the joint paper on migration submitted to the Finnish Presidency of the European Union by G6 member states.

John Reid: I will arrange for a copy of the G6 joint paper on migration to be placed in the Library.

Local Child Curfew Schemes: Lancashire

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many child curfew orders were issued in Lancashire in each year since 1997.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The available information is contained in the table.
	
		
			  Persons aged 10 to 17 sentenced to curfew( 1)  orders at Lancashire courts( 2) 
			   Number 
			 1997 (3)— 
			 1998 — 
			 1999 — 
			 2000 8 
			 2001 25 
			 2002 87 
			 2003 127 
			 2004 145 
			 2005 144 
			 (1) Given for principal offences. (2) Magistrates courts in Lancashire and the Crown court if committed by magistrates in Lancashire. (3) Curfew orders were introduced on an area by area basis from 1995.  Note: Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile these figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although figures are shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown.  Source: RDS-NOMS, Home Office

Oral Questions

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which questions on the order paper for oral answer by him on 19 February 2007 were drafted wholly or in part by a  (a) member of the ministerial team,  (b) special adviser,  (c) civil servant,  (d) parliamentary private secretary on his behalf and  (e) Government Whip; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: Questions on the order paper are a matter for the individual hon. Members who tabled them.

Passports: Lost Property

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British passports were reported lost or stolen  (a) in the UK and  (b) abroad in each year since 1997.

Joan Ryan: The UK Passport Service did not routinely collect information on the number of lost and stolen passports prior to 1999. Up until the introduction in December 2003 of a comprehensive system for the reporting and recording of lost and stolen passports, only the total number of these passports was recorded.
	The information shown in the table for 1999 to 2003 cannot therefore be broken down between the UK and abroad. Also it is mainly based on information contained in applications for replacement passports. It may not therefore show the true number of passports lost and stolen in these years.
	The 2004-06 figures are taken from the improved reporting and recording arrangements introduced in 2003. The figures relating to losses abroad are compiled from electronic reports received from Foreign and Commonwealth Office (F and CO) posts overseas. The increase in F and CO reports between 2004 and 2005 is a reflection of the phased implementation of the lost and stolen reporting arrangements at overseas posts.
	
		
			   Total number of lost and stolen passports  Number of processed electronic reports of loss and theft from F and CO 
			 1997 n/a n/a 
			 1998 n/a n/a 
			 1999 62,364 n/a 
			 2000 114,624 n/a 
			 2001 148,230 n/a 
			 2002 166,358 n/a 
			 2003 184,301 n/a 
			 2004 275,040 5,295 
			 2005 286,988 17,264 
			 2006 290,996 22,180 
			 n/a = not available.

Police Patrolling

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2007,  Official Report, column 203W, what assessment he has made of the impact that targeted patrol of crime hotspots has had on  (a) crime rates,  (b) calls for police services and  (c) antisocial behaviour.

Vernon Coaker: Reviews of the international literature by Sherman and Eck (2002) and Weisburd and Eck (2004) have found that there is a consistent body of strong evidence to support the targeting of police patrols to crime hotspots. Research shows that directed patrol is effective in reducing both crime, antisocial behaviour and calls for service.
	Recent Home Office research shows that foot patrol, as part of a neighbourhood policing strategy that includes problem-solving and community engagement, can deliver improvements in crime, perceptions of crime and antisocial behaviour, feelings of safety, and public confidence. Home Office Research from 2004 highlights the value of high visibility foot patrol targeted in robbery hotspots. The research site experienced a 16 per cent year-on-year reduction in street robbery.
	Ongoing Home Office research will evaluate the impact of neighbourhood policing on police performance, and will be published in due course.

Police Patrolling

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2007, O fficial Report, column 194W, on police patrols, what definition he uses of doorstep contact in relation to community confidence.

Vernon Coaker: Doorstep contact in a recent literature review is described as door-to-door visits made by the police to residents with the purpose of seeking or giving out information. They are shown to reduce both crime and disorder.
	In delivering neighbourhood policing, door-knocking is one method of engaging communities to identify local priorities. On the Bletchley Estate in Thames Valley, the hotspots identified by local residents at community meetings are followed up by door knocking in those areas. The officers and PCSOs use door knocking to find out what the problems are in the hotspots in order to target their activity, and to invite people to street briefings. Home Office research from 2006 provides evidence in support of community engagement that goes beyond traditional public meetings and includes methods like door knocking. It showed that engagement was linked with improved public confidence.

Prison Service: Surveys

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what questions are asked in the annual Prison Service Staff Survey.

John Reid: Questions asked in the annual Prison Service Staff Survey change each year depending on current issues. However a core of consistent questions are retained year-on-year to enable tracking of perceptions on key matters affecting working lives. These cover views about job satisfaction, working in prisons, facilities, management, development, communication and relationships.
	The 2006 Staff Survey questionnaire will be placed in the House Library.

Prisons

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment since May 1997 have been released.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department is developing a new database that will allow it to accurately capture the information requested. Currently, to provide the information requested would require manual checking of individual records which could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Smuggling

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of independent monitoring boards at prison establishments were found to have been involved in the trafficking of unauthorised articles into prison establishments in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 19 February 2007
	One member was found to have been trafficking unauthorised articles into prison in the last three years and their appointment was terminated.

Reparation by Offenders

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to widen the availability and practice of restorative justice in the adult criminal justice system.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government's adult restorative strategy is: to encourage, but not require, its further use in the adult criminal justice system, particularly as a service to victims; to ensure quality of delivery by delivering best practice guidance; and to continue to develop the evidence base on when restorative justice works for adult offenders. It has invested around £5 million in the Crime Reduction Programme Restorative Justice Pilots (which ran from 2001-04) and their evaluation. These pilots delivered restorative justice at all stages in the criminal justice system.
	Two (of four) research reports have already been published on, respectively, the setting up of the pilots and the delivery of the process. The third and fourth reports on victim and offender satisfaction, and the impact of restorative justice on reconviction rates and cost-effectiveness are expected to be published this year. This research will inform the longer term strategy for adult restorative justice. In the meantime, we have created further legislative opportunities for the use of adult restorative justice, for example, through conditional cautions, which are currently being rolled out nationally. Best practice guidance for practitioners was published in December 2004 and this now forms the basis for National Occupational Standards, which are another building block towards for the further expansion of restorative justice.

Royal Mail

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department spent using Royal Mail in each of the last five years.

Liam Byrne: The Home Office's accounting records have recorded expenditure with specific suppliers only since 2004-05. Expenditure for these years with Royal Mail was as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2004-05 1,132 
			 2005-06 1,624 
		
	
	Expenditure incurred specifically with Royal Mail for 2001-02 to 2003-04 could not be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.

Young Offenders: Gloucestershire

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) under 12-year-olds,  (b) 13-year-olds,  (c) 14-year-olds,  (d) 15-year-olds,  (e) 16-year-olds and  (f) 17-year-olds who were normally resident in Gloucestershire were in young offender institutions or prisons for each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The available information is given in the following table. The figures have been supplied by the Youth Justice Board, which assumed responsibility for commissioning and purchasing places in the secure estate for children and young people from April 2000. They show the number of young people aged 15-17, normally resident in Gloucestershire, who were accommodated in young offender institutions on 17 February in each year from 2001. None were accommodated in prisons. Young people under the age of 15 are not placed in young offender institutions or prisons.
	
		
			  15 to 17-year-olds normally resident in Gloucestershire accommodated in young offender institutions( 1) 
			  Age  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 15 1 2 2 1 5 7 2 
			 16 4 5 5 4 4 7 5 
			 17 11 11 5 9 9 9 8 
			 Total 16 18 12 14 18 23 15 
			 (1 )Number accommodated on 17 February each year.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Low Carbon Buildings Programme

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the future of the low carbon buildings programme.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The low carbon buildings programme has two phases with the aim of helping to build a sustainable industry for microgeneration technologies.
	Phase one (£30 million) was launched in April 2006 and provides several streams of funding for householders.
	Phase two with a £50 million budget announced in Budget 2006 was launched in December. It supports projects in the public and not for profit sectors, with the specific aim of driving down the cost of microgeneration technologies. Both phases continue to make good progress.
	Under Phase one we have so far committed £6.8 million to 4,534 household projects, £660,000 to 41 community projects, and we expect to commit around £2.3 million to the 26 stream two projects to date.

Wind Farms

John Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received on noise limits for onshore wind farm developments.

Alistair Darling: My Department regularly receives representations on onshore wind farm noise limits.

Carbon Capture and Storage

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the commercial feasibility of carbon capture and storage.

Alistair Darling: The technologies involved in carbon capture and storage have yet to be demonstrated together at commercial scale on power plants. There are currently eight potential full-scale carbon capture and storage projects proposed in the UK. Given the potential cost of a demonstration plant, the DTI appointed consulting engineers in January to help decide on whether to give the go ahead for a demonstration project.

Doha Round

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had on the World Trade Organisation's Doha round; and if he will make a statement.

Ian McCartney: The World Economic Forum at Davos has provided additional momentum to the DDA and enabled formal negotiations to resume. Myself and ministerial colleagues have worked actively in the EU and with other WTO members, including the US, India and Brazil to restart the negotiations. We will continue to press all WTO members to take these forward, and to show the flexibility necessary to conclude an ambitious, pro-development outcome to the DDA as soon as possible.

Post Offices

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what opportunities he plans to provide for scrutiny of the Post Office closure process.

Jim Fitzpatrick: In our consultation document on the Post Office Network, we propose that Postwatch should have a role in developing the local area closure proposals and a scrutiny role for the local public consultation process. Discussions between Post Office Ltd and Postwatch about local consultation procedures and Postwatch's role are in progress and we will set out clearly Postwatch's role in announcing Government's final decisions following the national public consultation.

Post Offices

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2007,  Official Report, column 2067W, on post offices, how many stakeholder groups have been sent copies of the Post Office network consultation documents; and how many consultation responses his Department has received from each region.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To 18 February, 1,336 hard copies of the consultation document had been despatched to stakeholder groups and other interested parties. The consultation document is also available electronically on the Department's website and to 15 February, the document had been downloaded 2,622 times and the response form had been separately downloaded 1,323 times. The electronic version of the consultation document can also be copied freely.
	To 19 February responses received by the Department by country/region were:
	
		
			  Region  Responses 
			 South East England 50 
			 Greater London 4 
			 South West 68 
			 Eastern England 14 
			 East Midlands 13 
			 West Midlands 18 
			 Yorks/Humberside 20 
			 North East England 2 
			 North West England 7 
			 Scotland 141 
			 Wales 15 
			 Not given 15 
			 Northern Ireland 0 
			 Total 367

Post Offices

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when his Department will  (a) complete its analysis of responses to the Post Office network consultation and  (b) publish its response to the consultation.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government expects to complete its analysis of responses to the Post Office network consultation and to publish its responses to the consultation in March.

Post Offices

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment he has made of additional Government services that could be made available at post offices.

Jim Fitzpatrick: We have regular discussions with other Departments about ways in which Government can sensibly use the network. However, it is clear that people increasingly choose to access services in different ways—using direct debits, ATMs and the phone and internet. Government cannot ignore these changes and has to offer choice in how its services are accessed. Our proposals for the network will help it become more competitive in the future and better placed to win contracts on commercial terms including Government contracts.

Post Offices

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses have been received to the current consultation on the future of the Post Office network from each region of the UK.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 21 February 2007
	As of 19 February, the Department had received 367 responses to our current consultation on the future of the Post Office network. The following table provides a breakdown by region.
	
		
			  Region  Responses 
			 South East England 50 
			 Greater London 4 
			 South West 68 
			 Eastern England 14 
			 East Midlands 13 
			 West Midlands 18 
			 Yorkshire/Humberside 20 
			 North East England 2 
			 North West England 7 
			 Scotland 141 
			 Wales 15 
			 Not given 15 
			 Northern Ireland 0 
			 Total 367

Science Centres

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of  (a) performance of UK science centres and  (b) the adequacy of funding for those centres.

Alistair Darling: Science centres are one of many ways in which enthusiasm for science can be generated among young people. My Department is providing £500,000 over two years to help science centres become financially viable. Responsibility for funding and performance of these centres is a matter for the centres themselves.

Ticket Agents

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the level of competition in the ticket agents market.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Competition in the ticket agents market is a matter for the independent competition authorities. In this case it is the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
	The OFT published a report on ticket agents in the UK in January 2005 looking at the services provided to consumers. The report did not find that there was a lack of competition resulting in a higher gross ticket price to consumers.

India

David Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on progress towards further trade agreements with India.

Ian McCartney: The UK welcomes the discussion in the EU of draft negotiating mandates for a potential Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India. Discussion on the draft mandate has been under way since the start of this year and is still ongoing. We recognise the benefits that FTAs may bring to both parties if they are deep and comprehensive agreements that take full account of the development issues and are complementary to the multilateral process.
	Our top priority remains an ambitious and pro-development outcome to the Doha Development Agenda. This will bring the greatest benefit to the widest range of constituents.

Departments: Complaints

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff worked in dedicated complaints units in his Department and its executive agencies in  (a) 1997-98,  (b) 2001-02 and  (c) 2005-06; and how many have done so in 2006-07 to date.

Jim Fitzpatrick: There are currently no dedicated complaints units in DTI or its Executive agencies, and nor were there any at the dates given. DTI's Executive agencies have their own complaints procedures, which are published on their websites. All complaints about other parts of the Department are dealt with by the DTI Response Centre—two members of staff handle complaints as a part of their responsibilities. The DTI's complaints procedure can be found at:
	http://www.dti.gov.uk/about/complaints/index.html.

Newspaper Press: Monopolies

Lynda Waltho: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations he has received on monopoly ownership in the newspaper industry.

Margaret Hodge: I have received one letter about this matter. My hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Mrs. Dean) wrote to me on 5 February 2007 enclosing correspondence relating to calls by the National Union of Journalists for an inquiry into the impacts of consolidation in the regional newspapers market on the quality of journalism.

Post Offices: Devon

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of rural post offices which will close in Devon in each of the next three years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: None. After the end of the national consultation on its proposals for maintaining a national post office network, the Government will reach and announce its decisions. It will then be for Post Office Ltd. to develop local area implementation plans within the framework set by Government.

Post Offices: Devon

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much his Department paid in public subsidy for post offices in Devon in 2006-07.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government's subsidy for the rural post office network supports the overall costs, including central costs and overheads, of maintaining the rural network and is not allocated to individual post offices, but amounts to £150 million.

Post Offices: Norfolk

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what areas of the South-West Norfolk constituency are considered to be  (a) urban,  (b) rural and  (c) remote under the access criteria for the post office network.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Areas of South-West Norfolk constituency comprising settlements of more than 10,000 inhabitants are classified as urban in the context of post office access criteria and those with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants are classified as rural. Of the 59 post offices in the constituency as at June 2006, all but four in Thetford were classified as rural.

Post Offices: Standards

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the current access standard is for post offices in  (a) urban areas and  (b) deprived urban areas; what proposals he has made to change these standards; for what reasons changes have been proposed; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Currently there are no access criteria for post offices in urban, deprived urban or rural areas. The access criteria proposed in the Government's consultation document are designed to balance the Government's desire to preserve a national network with protection for vulnerable communities with the need to put the post office network on a more stable financial footing.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Digital Switchover

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1713W, on digital switchover, if he will take steps to ensure the take-up of digital television in Northern Ireland is equivalent to the take-up in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Peter Hain: The Government are currently working with Digital UK to ensure that the public have the correct information to enable them to switch to digital television in time for the switchover date for their particular region. Digital UK is launching its public awareness campaign in each TV region three years prior to the date of switchover. Northern Ireland will switchover in 2012 along with the London, Tyne Tees and Meridian TV regions.

Domestic Rates

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the new capital value for local domestic taxation purposes is of the ministerial residences at  (a) Hillsborough Castle and  (b) Stormont; and who will pay the (i) domestic rates and (ii) domestic water bills.

David Hanson: For rating purposes the ministerial residences at Hillsborough Castle and Stormont are treated as integral parts of larger non domestic properties with total net annual values of £93,700 and £270,000 respectively. Domestic rates and domestic water bills are therefore not levied.

Electoral Register: Northern Ireland

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps have been taken to publicise the availability of electoral identity cards in Northern Ireland in the run up to the Assembly elections.

David Hanson: A number of measures are in place to publicise the availability of the electoral identity card. These include information being carried on the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland's website; a dedicated telephone helpline; media interviews by Electoral Office staff that promote the card; the issuing of the card at special mobile sites across Northern Ireland; and an extensive advertising campaign, funded by the Electoral Commission, raising awareness of the benefits of the card. I understand that the Northern Ireland parties are also informing voters how they may obtain electoral identity cards.

Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Northern Ireland Assembly will be able to amend or revoke the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 on a simple majority basis.

David Hanson: The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 may be amended or revoked by regulations brought forward by OFMDFM, or by a Bill of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Approval by the Northern Ireland Assembly would be by simple majority vote, subject to Section 42 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Ethnic Minority Achievement Service

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what criteria were used to locate the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service in the North Eastern Education and Library Board.

Maria Eagle: The Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) will be established from 1 April 2007 as a regional service to bring consistency to the provision of services, and the implementation of policy, for English as an additional language (EAL). Pending the establishment of the single Education and Skills Authority the management of the staffing and financial resources of EMAS have been located in the Northern Eastern Education and Library Board to allow the Department of Education to channel funding into one board and facilitate the early operation of the regional service. The choice of the education and library board was related to the chairmanship of the English as an Additional Language inter-board Group, which had been instrumental in the development of the regional arrangements, which were endorsed by the Association of Chief Executives.
	Staff of EMAS will continue to be based throughout Northern Ireland and the expertise, which has been built up in each board, will be available across all areas to provide a more effective and equitable service.

Housing Associations

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many  (a) Protestant,  (b) Roman Catholic and  (c) non-determined appointees there were to housing associations in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.

David Hanson: Housing associations are independent voluntary organisations led by boards of voluntary members. The boards are elected from the membership in accordance with the constitution of each association.
	The only circumstance in which the Department for Social Development may appoint members to a board of a registered housing association is if serious mismanagement is detected. The Department has never had to exercise this power.
	The Department requires all registered housing associations to offer their housing services impartially to all members of the community and expects associations to aim for a situation in which their boards broadly reflect the composition of the client group the association was established to serve.
	Housing associations are bound by the Fair Employment law. They recruit employees and make returns to the Equality Commission in accordance with the law.

Mental Health Services

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are to enhance the provision of psychological therapies in the Province.

Paul Goggins: The Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability has emphasised the importance of psychological interventions and recommended that a range of psychological therapies and psychosocial interventions should be farther developed. The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety is considering ways to implement these recommendations. In addition, the Department has commissioned the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma and Transformation to work with Health and Social Services Boards to develop Cognitive Therapy programmes.

Northern Ireland Assembly: Elections

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will invite the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to monitor the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly election; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe have not expressed an interest in monitoring the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly elections. The Government have no plans to invite them to do so.
	The running of the election is the responsibility of the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland, who is statutorily independent of Government. In addition to the measures which he will be putting in place to ensure that the election is fair and free from fraud, the Electoral Commission will be appointing observers who will visit both polling stations and count centres on the day of the election.

Shared Ownership Schemes

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of homes bought in Northern Ireland during 2006 were purchased through the co-ownership scheme.

David Hanson: The exact number of homes bought in Northern Ireland in 2006 (whether the purchase was eligible for co-ownership assistance or not) is not known. The number of participants joining the co-ownership scheme on a shared equity basis was 344. 767 participants left the scheme after purchasing the full equity.

Water Supply

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many domestic properties in Northern Ireland not connected to the main water supply in January 2006 were connected by January 2007.

David Cairns: The chief executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has written to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
	 Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan, dated 22 February 2007:
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question about how many domestic properties in Northern Ireland not connected to the main water supply in January 2006 were connected by January 2007 (122362). I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.
	It is estimated that less than 1% of domestic properties in Northern Ireland are not connected to the mains water supply. However, Water Service does not, at present, hold records of unconnected properties and is therefore unable to provide the information requested. A comprehensive customer database, which is currently being developed in preparation for the introduction of domestic charging from April this year, will identify any domestic properties not connected to the mains water supply. The customer database will enable all first-time connections to existing and new-build properties to be identified.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Apprenticeships: Hendon

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in Hendon completed apprenticeships in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: Data on Apprenticeships and Advanced Apprenticeships are collected on the Learning and Skills Council's Individualised Learner Record (ILR). The following table shows the number of learners having met all the requirements of their Apprenticeship framework in the Hendon parliamentary constituency (based on learner home postcode) in the latest three years for which data are available.
	
		
			   Apprenticeship at level 2  Advanced apprenticeship 
			 2002/03 10 10 
			 2003/04 20 10 
			 2004/05 20 10 
			  Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.  Source: Learning and Skills Council Individualised Learner Record (ILR) 
		
	
	These figures are based on the Learning and Skills Council's Individualised Learner Record and are consistent with figures underpinning the national success rates published in the National Statistics Publications: 'Further Education and Work Based Learning—Learner Outcomes in England: 2004/05' and 'Further Education and Work Based Learning—Learner Outcomes in England: 2003/04'. These showed the national success rate for complete frameworks in apprenticeships has improved from 27 per cent. in 2002/03 to 40 per cent. in 2004/05. Comparable official statistics for 2005/06 will be published in the Statistical First Release 'Further Education and Work Based Learning—Learner Outcomes in England: 2005/06' but latest management information suggests that there has been significant further improvement to around 53 per cent.
	A target has been set to increase the volume of completions to 75,500 in 2007/08. We are on target to meet that with 99,000 completions in 2005/06 based on latest management information.
	In order to successfully complete an apprenticeship the learner must achieve each element required by their particular framework; that would include an NVQ, Key Skills and any other required qualification.

Departments: Official Cars

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many vehicles belonging to his Department were  (a) lost and  (b) stolen in each year since 1997; and what the (i) make and model and (ii) value was of each vehicle.

Parmjit Dhanda: Since 1997 the number of vehicles belonging to the Department for Education and Skills which have been lost is nil, and the number stolen is one, which occurred in May 2005.
	The stolen vehicle was a Volvo S80, purchased new in November 2004 for £22,550.

Departments: Civil Servants

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total sum of bonuses paid to civil servants in his Department was in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006.

Parmjit Dhanda: The information requested for  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006 is contained in the following table:
	
		
			   Total amount of bonuses paid (£) 
			 2005 1,462,000 
			 2006 1,835,000

Education: Saudi Arabia

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools use teaching materials provided by the Saudi Education Ministry.

Jim Knight: The Department does not hold this type of information. However, we are aware that King Fahad Academy has used materials provided by the Saudi Education Ministry. The school has made copies of two particular textbooks available to us and I understand has now removed them altogether. I will consider the implications of this material alongside the report of an unannounced Ofsted inspection of the school before determining any further action.

English Language

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many English for Speakers of Other Languages courses were delivered at trade union learning centres in the last period for which figures are available; and what discussions he had had with trade unions about the impact of the ending of fee remission for those courses at such centres.

Phil Hope: Trade unions offer an important opportunity for learners with literacy, language and numeracy skills to access the learning opportunities they need for sustainable employment and progression at work.
	Figures for the number of courses delivered at Trade union centres are not available. However, in 2005-06, £16.9 million was available for unionlearn and Union Learning Fund activities. Funding supported over 107,000 learners to improve their skills. For that year, figures for the number of people undertaking ESOL courses are not available. However, we expect 3,245 learners to improve their English language skills through Union Learning funded activity in 2006-07.
	My hon. Friend the Minister for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning met with the TUC and union leaders as part of the Race Equality Impact Assessment process. The changes to ESOL funding include the withdrawal of automatic fee remission from ESOL courses, but learners who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance and income related benefits will still be eligible for full fee remission. This includes low paid workers earning up to £15,050 who are eligible for working tax credit. The Government will continue to support the cost of learning for those who are asked for a contribution and will fund around 62.5 per cent. of the course fee.

English Language

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with the Health and Safety Executive on the impact on workplace safety of the ending of fee remission for English for Speakers of Other Languages courses.

Phil Hope: Proposals for changes to ESOL were cleared through the Asylum and Migration Cabinet Committee and received the support of both the Home Office and Department for Communities and Local Government. Clearance for the changes was received in September 2006.
	Changes to ESOL funding include the withdrawal of automatic fee remission from ESOL courses, but learners who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance and income related benefits, including working tax credit, will still be eligible for full fee remission. The Government will continue to support the cost of learning for those who are asked for a contribution and will fund around 62.5 per cent. of the course fee.

English Language

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government on the effect on community cohesion of the ending of fee remission for English for Speakers of Other Languages courses.

Phil Hope: Proposals for changes to arrangements for funding of ESOL courses were considered by members of the Asylum and Migration Cabinet Committee of which DCLG is a member. The changes were approved by that Committee on 21 September 2006.
	The changes include the withdrawal of automatic fee remission from ESOL courses, but learners who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance and income related benefits, including working tax credit, will still be eligible for full fee remission. The Government will continue to support the cost of learning for those who are asked for a contribution and will fund around 62.5 per cent. of the course fee.

Higher Education

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what consultations his Department is undertaking on the new 50-point scale for those working in higher education.

Bill Rammell: We are not undertaking any consultations on pay scales for higher education staff. Since pay is a matter for higher education institutions themselves, as independent autonomous bodies, it is for individual institutions to consult their staff on the introduction of new pay arrangements.

Higher Education: Admissions

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of 18-year-olds having successfully completed  (a) at least two non-vocational A-levels,  (b) at least two vocational A-levels and  (c) NVQ Level Three qualifications took up places in (i) full-time university, (ii) part-time university, (iii) full-time other higher, (iv) part-time other higher and (v) further education in each year since 1997.

Bill Rammell: The latest data from the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) showing the participation rates of 18-year-olds in higher education are shown in the first table. Comparable figures are not available for years prior to 1999.
	
		
			  Table 1: Participation rate of English domiciled 18-year-olds in higher education 
			  Year of entry  Participation rate (Percentage) 
			 1999 19.1 
			 2000 19.4 
			 2001 19.8 
			 2002 19.9 
			 2003 19.5 
			 2004(1) 19.8 
			 (1) Provisional.  Source: Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR). Latest figures published by DfES in "Participation Rates in Higher Education 1999/00 to 2004/05", April 2006. 
		
	
	The HEIPR is not disaggregated by the qualification level of the entrants. However, data from the Youth Cohort Survey (YCS) showing the progression rates of 18-year-olds, for the five most recent cohorts, are shown in the second table. The YCS is a sample survey and as such, estimates from it are subject to sampling variability. This means changes from one cohort to the next should be treated with caution especially for small populations such as those with AVCEs and NVQ level 3s.
	The latest available information on the qualification levels of entrants to higher education is shown in the third table.
	
		
			  English domiciled 18-year-old entrants to HE courses at UK HE institutions with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications as their highest qualification on entry( 1) , 2002/03 to 2005/06 
			 Of which: 
			  Academic year  Qualification  Total  Full-time at universities  Part-time at universities  Full-time at HE colleges  Part-time at HE colleges 
			 2002/03 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 114,735 103,200 685 10,310 140 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ GCE A levels(2) 99,560 91,630 140 7,775 20 
			  2+ VCE A levels(2) 1,015 85 5 140 5 
			
			 2003/04 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 116,520 105,090 820 10,510 100 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ GCE A levels(2) 102,285 93,890 190 8,155 50 
			  2+ VCE A levels(2) 1,415 1,415 10 185 5 
			
			 2004/05 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 120,315 111,735 950 7,490 140 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ GCE A levels(2) 105,070 98,910 205 5,845 110 
			  2+ VCE A levels(2) 1,720 1,510 5 200 10 
			
			 2005/06 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 133,320 124,040 1,040 8,140 105 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ GCE A levels(2) 116,755 110,240 320 6,115 80 
			  2+ VCE A levels(2) 2,355 2,100 10 240 5 
			 (1) Figures for 18-year-olds entering with other qualifications are not included. (2) Contains a count of the number of students entering with the specific qualifications. There is likely to be a small number of students who fall into both categories and so will be counted once in each category.  Note: Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record. 
		
	
	
		
			  English domiciled 18-year-old entrants to HE courses at UK HE institutions with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications as their highest qualification on entry( 1) , 1997/98 to 2001/02 
			 Of which: 
			  Academic year  Qualification  Total  Full-time at universities  Part-time at universities  Full-time at HE colleges  Part-time at HE colleges 
			 1997/98 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 107,000 95,110 525 11,225 140 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ 'A' or AS level equivalents(2) (3)— (3)— (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			  NVQ level 3, 12 module GNVQ or combination(2, 4) (3)— (3)— (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			
			 1998/99 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 107,660 95,630 680 11,140 210 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ 'A' or AS level equivalents(2) 93,470 84,220 360 8,750 140 
			  NVQ level 3, 12 module GNVQ or combination(2, 4) 2,660 2,130 40 480 10 
			
			 1999/2000 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 104,655 92,780 600 11,170 105 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ 'A' or AS level equivalents(2) 88,105 79,000 325 8,735 50 
			  NVQ level 3, 12 module GNVQ or combination(2, 4) 3,265 2,400 45 815 5 
			
			 2000/01 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 104,400 92,420 635 11,180 165 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ 'A' or AS level equivalents(2) 89,640 80,650 325 8,630 30 
			  NVQ level 3, 12 module GNVQ or combination(2, 4) 5,340 4,075 80 1,175 10 
			
			 2001/02 Total with A-level or equivalent level 3 qualifications on entry 110,595 98,985 710 10,775 125 
			   Of who have:  
			  2+ 'A' or AS level equivalents(2) 94,640 86,380 300 7,920 35 
			  NVQ level 3, 12 module GNVQ or combination(2, 4) 5,975 4,755 75 1,130 15 
			 (1) Figures for 18-year-olds entering with other qualifications are not included. (2) Contains a count of the number of students entering with the specific qualifications. There is likely to be a small number of students who fall into both categories and so will be counted once in each category. (3) The information held for 1997/98 only allows the identification of the type of qualification held, not the number. (4) Combinations of NVQ level 3, and 12 or six module GNVQs.  Note: Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record.

Music: Education

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how much his Department spent on music education through the Music Standards Fund in each year of its existence; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how much was spent on music education in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: The Music Standards Fund was introduced in 1999/2000. The following table shows the amounts allocated through the Standards Fund in each year since then.
	
		
			   £ million (rounded) 
			 1999/2000 40 
			 2000/2001 50 
			 2001/2002 50 
			 2002/2003 59.5 
			 2003/2004(1) 61 
			 2004/2005 59.5 
			 2005/2006(1) 61 
			 2006/2007(2) 64 
			 Total 445 
			 (1) Includes KS2 addition of £1. 5 million. (2) Includes KS2 addition of £4.5 million. 
		
	
	In addition to the general amounts for Music Services in each of the years 2003/04, 2005/06 and 2006/07 an extra £1.5million was allocated to local authorities to encourage the development of programmes designed to increase the number of pupils at KS2 able to learn a musical instrument. For 2006/07 an extra £3 million was allocated to LAs for distribution directly to schools for KS2 instrumental provision. For 2007/08 this rises to £23 million. In each of those two years a further £2 million is held centrally to finance the purchase and repair of instruments and a CPD programme for music practitioners.
	Local authorities are free to add to the Music Standards Funds from their general education budgets, and many do. Information on the total spend on music is, therefore, not available centrally.

Music: Education

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much each local authority received from his Department for the purpose of providing music education in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Government have paid specific grant to local authorities for the purposes of music education since 1999-2000. The amount of grant paid to each local authority for this purpose for each year since then, and the amounts allocated for 2007-2008, are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Standard Fund Music allocations 1999-2000 to 2007-08 
			   1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04 
			 Barking 75,000 75,000 142,100 217,091 227,091 
			 Barnet 119,773 — 193,300 193,251 203,251 
			 Barnsley 154,489 171,000 191,300 216,336 226,336 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 187,000 187,000 187,000 187,000 197,000 
			 Bedfordshire 533,000 533,000 533,000 533,000 543,000 
			 Bexley 160,000 185,000 185,000 210,000 220,000 
			 Birmingham 324,069 736,150 1,083,800 1,555,904 1,564,904 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 155,000 360,000 360,000 410,000 420,000 
			 Blackpool 12,600 36,600 98,300 122,293 132,293 
			 Bolton 410,361 434,750 434,800 559,500 568,500 
			 Bournemouth — 21,100 — — 91,700 
			 Bracknell Forest 86,760 111,760 111,800 136,760 146,760 
			 Bradford 212,000 212,000 493,300 493,306 503,306 
			 Brent 63,000 63,000 191,200 254,159 264,159 
			 Brighton and Hove 303,000 316,790 316,800 330,580 340,580 
			 Bristol 218,000 233,400 265,300 291,541 301,541 
			 Bromley — 17,500 159,300 176,838 186,838 
			 Buckinghamshire 641,510 641,510 641,500 895,020 905,020 
			 Bury 45,912 47,000 125,700 130,723 140,723 
			 Calderdale 76,000 136,000 161,500 221,546 231,546 
			 Cambridgeshire 186,000 246,000 344,600 404,000 414,000 
			 Camden 97,000 278,750 278,800 373,500 383,500 
			 Cheshire 94,000 134,000 442,400 482,353 492,353 
			 Cornwall 320,088 350,000 350,000 518,000 528,000 
			 Corporation of London — — 1,800 1,753 2,753 
			 Coventry 98,500 123,740 223,300 347,088 357,088 
			 Croydon 71,080 74,700 231,100 267,764 267,764 
			 Cumbria 393,000 509,900 509,900 633,800 643,800 
			 Darlington 142,000 142,000 142,000 177,000 187,000 
			 Derby City — — — — 10,000 
			 Derbyshire 250,000 250,000 695,600 945,642 955,642 
			 Devon 129,047 324,050 697,600 818,604 656,400 
			 Doncaster 741,000 754,956 755,000 768,912 778,912 
			 Dorset 74,000 137,200 304,400 410,379 254,600 
			 Dudley 575,000 290,718 290,700 581,435 591,435 
			 Durham 795,000 830,000 830,000 830,000 840,000 
			 Ealing 27,600 175,300 215,400 335,508 345,508 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 557,000 557,000 557,000 557,000 567,000 
			 East Sussex 876,000 905,887 905,900 935,774 945,774 
			 Enfield 60,000 80,000 209,100 289,111 299,111 
			 Essex 364,500 364,500 758,000 1,122,535 1,132,535 
			 Gateshead 415,000 456,795 456,800 498,590 508,590 
			 Gloucestershire 137,058 163,950 345,200 467,176 477,176 
			 Greenwich 50,000 125,000 239,200 264,228 274,228 
			 Hackney 63,000 225,380 225,400 360,380 370,380 
			 Halton 22,000 22,000 125,400 125,429 135,429 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 32,000 93,000 128,500 157,481 167,481 
			 Hampshire 741,981 882,190 882,200 1,086,380 1,095,380 
			 Haringey 219,000 283,000 283,000 358,000 357,000 
			 Harrow 158,000 158,000 158,000 158,000 168,000 
			 Hartlepool 168,000 — — — 10,000 
			 Havering 15,000 32,500 127,800 160,286 170,286 
			 Herefordshire 170,000 194,855 194,900 219,710 229,710 
			 Hertfordshire 266,413 341,800 626,600 782,448 782,448 
			 Hillingdon 30,000 60,000 143,500 203,534 213,534 
			 Hounslow 333,000 346,500 346,500 360,000 370,000 
			 Isle of Wight 256,000 280,000 298,400 340,800 350,800 
			 Isles of Scilly 2,510 2,510 4,000 3,996 4,996 
			 Islington 48,544 53,400 183,600 222,002 232,002 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 8,108 13,640 77,400 85,513 95,513 
			 Kent 489,091 665,000 824,500 1,129,485 1,139,485 
			 Kingston Upon Thames 71,500 71,500 71,500 143,000 153,000 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull 512,000 512,000 512,000 512,000 522,000 
			 Kirklees 313,000 358,277 358,300 403,553 413,553 
			 Knowsley 144,626 140,725 226,500 276,243 286,243 
			 Lambeth 17,500 17,500 215,500 233,044 243,044 
			 Lancashire 343,000 343,000 873,900 1,216,889 1,226,889 
			 Leeds 245,000 245,000 535,500 535,454 545,454 
			 Leicester City 129,400 149,400 149,400 169,400 179,400 
			 Leicestershire 461,000 461,000 461,000 461,000 471,000 
			 Lewisham 50,000 135,000 227,800 277,833 287,833 
			 Lincolnshire 471,000 507,000 507,000 543,000 553,000 
			 Liverpool 222,000 252,000 564,100 594,080 604,080 
			 Luton 273,000 562,375 562,400 851,750 861,750 
			 Manchester 1,355,000 1,355,000 1,355,000 1,366,000 1,365,000 
			 Medway 102,000 149,120 162,500 209,588 219,588 
			 Merton 66,250 66,250 102,000 168,221 178,221 
			 Middlesbrough 281,142 — — — 10,000 
			 Milton Keynes 187,347 232,500 232,500 280,000 290,000 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne — 169,310 234,600 403,926 413,926 
			 Newham 13,100 225,200 314,700 513,737 523,737 
			 Norfolk 193,732 183,940 552,300 595,195 605,195 
			 North East Lincolnshire 128,071 189,000 189,000 309,000 319,000 
			 North Lincolnshire 190,000 190,000 190,000 190,000 200,000 
			 North Somerset 268,000 293,000 293,000 318,000 328,000 
			 North Tyneside 53,645 79,000 154,000 203,983 213,983 
			 North Yorkshire 683,000 703,000 703,000 723,000 733,000 
			 Northamptonshire 835,000 835,000 835,000 845,000 845,000 
			 Northumberland — 15,825 255,400 271,243 281,243 
			 Nottingham City 184,212 197,000 293,000 323,043 333,043 
			 Nottinghamshire 205,227 148,000 529,400 609,365 619,365 
			 Oldham 149,000 149,000 222,700 371,655 381,655 
			 Oxfordshire 262,000 338,000 338,000 425,000 424,000 
			 Peterborough 93,000 93,000 139,000 139,002 149,002 
			 Plymouth 56,000 — — — 182,200 
			 Poole — 21,700 — — 94,100 
			 Portsmouth 62,681 80,138 80,200 147,000 157,000 
			 Reading 81,000 81,000 81,000 150,000 160,000 
			 Redbridge 155,537 123,330 152,200 211,511 221,511 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 265,000 2,375 — — 10,000 
			 Richmond Upon Thames 126,100 127,350 127,400 159,600 169,600 
			 Rochdale 102,603 85,000 195,200 195,232 205,232 
			 Rotherham 574,000 597,460 597,500 620,920 630,920 
			 Rutland 22,050 4,400 20,200 20,169 30,169 
			 Salford 368,000 378,699 378,700 389,398 399,398 
			 Sandwell 753,000 753,000 753,000 753,000 763,000 
			 Sefton 491,000 543,770 543,800 596,540 606,540 
			 Sheffield 90,000 90,000 364,300 364,293 374,293 
			 Shropshire 110,000 110,000 179,000 178,988 188,988 
			 Slough 51,474 129,000 129,000 221,000 231,000 
			 Solihull 151,500 151,500 151,500 303,000 313,000 
			 Somerset 277,000 502,225 502,200 727,450 737,450 
			 South Gloucestershire 251,739 267,450 267,500 285,900 295,900 
			 South Tyneside 249,000 253,500 253,500 258,000 268,000 
			 Southampton 142,603 217,050 217,000 309,100 319,100 
			 Southend-on-Sea 56,865 160,979 161,000 208,229 218,229 
			 Southwark 100,000 100,000 261,200 361,237 371,237 
			 St. Helens — — 141,500 141,541 151,541 
			 Staffordshire 826,000 940,000 940,000 1,054,000 1,064,000 
			 Stockport 181,000 206,000 206,000 231,000 241,000 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 410,000 1,227,950 1,230,300 1,336,700 1,346,700 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 148,000 193,000 219,400 264,374 274,374 
			 Suffolk 382,345 416,000 427,600 472,626 482,626 
			 Sunderland 110,904 114,400 273,200 307,574 317,574 
			 Surrey 351,000 413,532 456,100 518,669 528,669 
			 Sutton 41,100 41,100 90,200 131,322 141,322 
			 Swindon 140,400 140,400 140,400 280,800 290,800 
			 Tameside 74,000 96,000 178,000 200,007 210,007 
			 Telford and Wrekin 67,000 67,000 136,400 136,436 146,436 
			 Thurrock 142,296 340,248 340,200 395,903 405,903 
			 Torbay 23,000 — — — 10,000 
			 Tower Hamlets 52,750 52,750 351,700 404,449 414,449 
			 Trafford 32,000 38,400 162,600 168,989 178,989 
			 Wakefield 686,000 728,885 728,900 771,770 781,770 
			 Walsall 555,557 619,700 619,700 712,400 722,400 
			 Waltham Forest 190,413 190,415 198,800 269,225 279,225 
			 Wandsworth 106,000 93,500 169,600 263,101 273,101 
			 Warrington 38,477 52,750 118,100 137,806 147,806 
			 Warwickshire 746,000 876,000 876,000 1,006,000 1,016,000 
			 West Berkshire 195,000 201,050 201,100 207,100 217,100 
			 West Sussex 840,000 917,000 917,000 994,000 1,004,000 
			 Westminster 139,445 181,750 181,800 363,500 373,500 
			 Wigan 164,000 164,000 218,200 218,220 228,220 
			 Wiltshire 278,000 278,000 278,000 278,000 288,000 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 178,000 178,000 178,000 178,000 188,000 
			 Wirral 412,000 486,400 486,400 560,800 570,800 
			 Wokingham 95,000 190,000 190,000 190,000 200,000 
			 Wolverhampton 111,639 137,000 214,700 282,699 292,699 
			 Worcestershire 820,798 738,500 738,500 887,000 897,000 
			 York 368,000 388,160 388,200 408,320 418,320 
			   
			 Total allocation 35,181,012 40,300,518 50,060,500 59,633,546 61,049,563 
		
	
	
		
			   2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 Barking 217,091 227,091 239,645 313,338 
			 Barnet 193,251 203,251 221,105 330,128 
			 Barnsley 216,336 226,336 240,717 326,589 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 187,000 197,000 205,869 254,996 
			 Bedfordshire 533,000 543,000 567,342 719,621 
			 Bexley 210,000 220,000 234,496 321,137 
			 Birmingham 1,554,904 1,564,904 1,638,950 2,122,587 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 410,000 420,000 430,901 493,575 
			 Blackpool 122,293 132,293 141,384 191,990 
			 Bolton 558,500 568,500 586,063 693,147 
			 Bournemouth 81,700 91,700 99,427 140,939 
			 Bracknell Forest 136,760 146,760 152,937 184,119 
			 Bradford 493,306 503,306 537,324 754,109 
			 Brent 254,159 264,159 279,970 375,373 
			 Brighton and Hove 330,580 340,580 352,873 424,827 
			 Bristol 291,541 301,541 322,792 454,469 
			 Bromley 176,838 186,838 204,426 311,678 
			 Buckinghamshire 895,020 905,020 932,575 1,106,272 
			 Bury 130,723 140,723 151,579 213,956 
			 Calderdale 221,546 231,546 244,670 322,160 
			 Cambridgeshire 404,000 414,000 445,654 646,684 
			 Camden 373,500 383,500 391,633 435,854 
			 Cheshire 482,353 492,353 532,294 788,565 
			 Cornwall 518,000 528,000 556,675 737,844 
			 Corporation of London 1,753 6,753 6,906 2,922 
			 Coventry 347,088 357,088 376,184 493,490 
			 Croydon 257,764 267,764 288,647 417,867 
			 Cumbria 633,800 643,800 672,609 854,670 
			 Darlington 177,000 187,000 193,314 225,404 
			 Derby City — 10,000 24,906 114,280 
			 Derbyshire 945,642 955,642 1,000,417 1,288,914 
			 Devon 646,400 591,400 630,692 882,637 
			 Doncaster 768,912 778,912 798,088 915,929 
			 Dorset 244,600 254,600 275,479 404,673 
			 Dudley 581,435 591,435 611,457 734,940 
			 Durham 830,000 840,000 869,763 1,058,180 
			 Ealing 335,508 345,508 363,254 471,560 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 557,000 567,000 585,968 702,420 
			 East Sussex 935,774 945,774 973,013 1,144,604 
			 Enfield 289,111 299,111 318,242 435,785 
			 Essex 1,122,535 1,132,535 1,211,385 1,727,049 
			 Gateshead 498,590 508,590 520,150 587,218 
			 Gloucestershire 467,176 477,176 510,183 720,231 
			 Greenwich 264,228 274,228 288,735 375,449 
			 Hackney 360,380 370,380 382,824 455,781 
			 Halton 125,429 135,429 143,176 184,819 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 157,481 167,481 174,384 210,404 
			 Hampshire 1,085,380 1,095,380 1,167,212 1,636,093 
			 Haringey 347,000 357,000 372,013 462,097 
			 Harrow 158,000 168,000 180,577 254,423 
			 Hartlepool — 10,000 16,396 49,040 
			 Havering 160,286 170,286 184,525 269,451 
			 Herefordshire 219,710 229,710 239,210 292,540 
			 Hertfordshire 772,448 782,448 845,173 1,253,337 
			 Hillingdon 203,534 213,534 229,459 325,623 
			 Hounslow 360,000 370,000 382,819 458,278 
			 Isle of Wight 340,800 350,800 358,670 401,137 
			 Isles of Scilly 3,996 4,996 — — 
			 Islington 222,002 232,002 242,297 300,933 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 85,513 95,513 100,471 123,523 
			 Kent 1,129,485 1,139,485 1,221,811 1,760,652 
			 Kingston Upon Thames 143,000 153,000 160,452 200,129 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull 512,000 522,000 538,533 638,750 
			 Kirklees 403,553 413,553 439,232 600,425 
			 Knowsley 276,243 286,243 297,677 363,907 
			 Lambeth 233,044 243,044 256,729 337,961 
			 Lancashire 1,216,889 1,226,889 1,296,567 1,751,088 
			 Leeds 535,454 545,454 588,021 861,802 
			 Leicester City 169,400 179,400 199,208 321,264 
			 Leicestershire 461,000 471,000 507,724 742,550 
			 Lewisham 277,833 287,833 302,880 393,190 
			 Lincolnshire 543,000 553,000 591,587 838,835 
			 Liverpool 594,080 604,080 632,618 812,873 
			 Luton 851,750 861,750 875,288 955,544 
			 Manchester 1,355,000 1,365,000 1,393,696 1,575,001 
			 Medway 209,588 219,588 236,381 338,334 
			 Merton 168,221 178,221 187,180 236,907 
			 Middlesbrough — 10,000 19,771 74,913 
			 Milton Keynes 280,000 290,000 304,042 387,652 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne 403,926 413,926 428,699 517,185 
			 Newham 513,737 523,737 544,904 676,018 
			 Norfolk 595,195 605,195 650,381 941,617 
			 North East Lincolnshire 309,000 319,000 329,533 389,754 
			 North Lincolnshire 190,000 200,000 209,954 266,313 
			 North Somerset 318,000 328,000 338,840 401,108 
			 North Tyneside 203,983 213,983 225,580 292,893 
			 North Yorkshire 723,000 733,000 765,247 970,225 
			 Northamptonshire 835,000 845,000 885,357 1,144,405 
			 Northumberland 271,243 281,243 299,694 412,697 
			 Nottingham City 323,043 333,043 349,822 451,683 
			 Nottinghamshire 609,365 619,365 664,872 958,255 
			 Oldham 371,655 381,655 397,538 493,425 
			 Oxfordshire 414,000 424,000 456,498 663,150 
			 Peterborough 139,002 149,002 160,417 226,517 
			 Plymouth 172,200 182,200 196,821 284,292 
			 Poole 84,100 94,100 101,149 138,145 
			 Portsmouth 147,000 157,000 167,497 227,475 
			 Reading 150,000 160,000 167,173 204,996 
			 Redbridge 211,511 221,511 237,821 336,552 
			 Redcar and Cleveland — 10,000 19,366 71,807 
			 Richmond Upon Thames 159,600 169,600 177,794 222,421 
			 Rochdale 195,232 205,232 219,721 306,313 
			 Rotherham 620,920 630,920 647,958 751,545 
			 Rutland 20,169 30,169 31,871 33,219 
			 Salford 389,398 399,398 413,383 496,619 
			 Sandwell 753,000 763,000 783,230 908,093 
			 Sefton 596,540 606,540 623,345 725,382 
			 Sheffield 364,293 374,293 404,714 597,518 
			 Shropshire 178,988 188,988 204,947 301,340 
			 Slough 221,000 231,000 238,910 281,643 
			 Solihull 303,000 313,000 326,842 409,122 
			 Somerset 727,450 737,450 766,518 950,305 
			 South Gloucestershire 285,900 295,900 312,364 412,125 
			 South Tyneside 258,000 268,000 277,449 330,443 
			 Southampton 309,100 319,100 331,114 401,208 
			 Southend-on-Sea 208,229 218,229 228,647 288,103 
			 Southwark 361,237 371,237 387,381 485,008 
			 St. Helens 141,541 151,541 162,701 227,099 
			 Staffordshire 1,054,000 1,064,000 1,112,703 1,427,391 
			 Stockport 231,000 241,000 257,594 358,222 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 1,336,700 1,346,700 1,358,613 1,428,033 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 264,374 274,374 289,262 378,512 
			 Suffolk 472,626 482,626 522,168 775,778 
			 Sunderland 307,574 317,574 335,143 442,271 
			 Surrey 518,669 528,669 583,080 935,818 
			 Sutton 131,322 141,322 151,579 209,960 
			 Swindon 280,800 290,800 302,988 374,240 
			 Tameside 200,007 210,007 224,099 308,048 
			 Telford and Wrekin 136,436 146,436 157,542 221,582 
			 Thurrock 395,903 405,903 415,664 470,739 
			 Torbay — 75,000 82,305 121,009 
			 Tower Hamlets 404,449 414,449 430,291 525,905 
			 Trafford 168,989 178,989 191,772 266,992 
			 Wakefield 771,770 781,770 801,883 925,971 
			 Walsall 712,400 722,400 739,951 846,954 
			 Waltham Forest 269,225 279,225 294,064 382,988 
			 Wandsworth 263,101 273,101 284,681 351,884 
			 Warrington 137,806 147,806 160,037 231,579 
			 Warwickshire 1,006,000 1,016,000 1,045,530 1,232,397 
			 West Berkshire 207,100 217,100 225,603 272,293 
			 West Sussex 994,000 1,004,000 1,045,256 1,310,299 
			 Westminster 363,500 373,500 381,138 422,057 
			 Wigan 218,220 228,220 247,329 364,724 
			 Wiltshire 278,000 288,000 313,994 477,287 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 178,000 188,000 194,582 228,461 
			 Wirral 560,800 570,800 591,175 717,012 
			 Wokingham 190,000 200,000 208,870 258,000 
			 Wolverhampton 282,699 292,699 308,51 1 403,927 
			 Worcestershire 887,000 897,000 927,889 1,123,815 
			 York 408,320 418,320 427,816 481,124 
			— — 
			 Total allocation 59,567,563 61,053,563 64,048,460 82,562,725

Pre-School Education: Standards

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether there has been a delay in the implementation of the 2006 Code of Practice for nursery provision.

Beverley Hughes: No. The 2006 Code of Practice on the provision of free nursery education places for three and four-year-olds came into force on 1 April 2006, replacing existing statutory guidance and reflecting the extension of the free entitlement from 33 to 38 weeks in private, voluntary and independent sector settings.

Primary Education: Finance

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding was per primary school pupil for each year from 1995-96 to 2006-07 in  (a) England and  (b) each English local authority area; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Department can only provide comparable for the period 1997-98 to 2005-06. The following table sets out the funding per primary pupil in England and by each local authority:
	
		
			  Real terms funding per 3-10 year old pupil for the years 1997-98 to 2005-06 
			   1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			  England 2,480 2,580 2,750 2,990 3,160 3,250 3,450 3,550 3,770 
			 Barking and Dagenham 2,610 2,860 3,010 3,220 3,420 3,600 3,910 4,050 4,240 
			 Barnet 2,690 2,770 2,930 3,100 3,360 3,440 3,720 3,860 4,150 
			 Barnsley 2,340 2,460 2,640 2,870 3,040 3,180 4,400 3,470 3,690 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 2,230 2,350 2,510 2,710 2,850 2,900 3,070 3,140 3,360 
			 Bedfordshire 2,440 2,500 2,650 2,900 3,070 3,130 3,260 3,360 3,560 
			 Bexley 2,540 2,640 2,750 2,930 3,090 3,180 3,400 3,500 3,670 
			 Birmingham 2,550 2,680 2,870 3,150 3,390 3,500 3,730 3,830 4,120 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 2,490 2,650 2,910 3,170 3,330 3,440 3,760 3,850 4,090 
			 Blackpool 2,410 2,520 2,680 2,920 3,040 3,180 3,380 3,480 3,670 
			 Bolton 2,300 2,420 2,620 2,880 3,020 3,100 3,310 3,420 3,720 
			 Bournemouth 2,530 2,540 2,670 2,900 2,980 3,010 3,140 3,220 3,400 
			 Bracknell Forest 2,570 2,640 2,760 2,950 3,120 3,190 3,310 3,390 3,610 
			 Bradford 2,440 2,570 2,770 3,060 3,320 3,400 3,590 3,700 3,950 
			 Brent 3,080 3,190 3,390 3,580 3,830 4,010 4,270 4,440 4,720 
			 Brighton and Hove 2,600 2,680 2,860 3,100 3,270 3,350 3,500 3,610 3,760 
			 Bristol, City of 2,400 2,480 2,660 2,890 3,070 3,220 3,400 3,550 3,800 
			 Bromley 2,560 2,670 2,820 3,020 3,190 3,250 3,380 3,490 3,690 
			 Buckinghamshire 2,520 2,550 2,720 2,930 3,090 3,160 3,300 3,410 3,600 
			 Bury 2,220 2,370 2,550 2,760 2,920 3,000 3,210 3,320 3,530 
			 Calderdale 2,290 2,420 2,630 2,870 3,020 3,090 3,330 3,430 3,660 
			 Cambridgeshire 2,300 2,410 2,590 2,790 2,920 2,980 3,220 3,340 3,530 
			 Camden 3,700 3,670 3,960 4,280 4,580 4,750 5,140 5,380 5,590 
			 Cheshire 2,270 2,350 2,510 2,720 2,870 2,920 3,100 3,190 3,410 
			 Cornwall 2,310 2,510 2,680 2,900 3,070 3,130 3,300 3,370 3,570 
			 Coventry 2,420 2,580 2,760 3,000 3,150 3,210 3,420 3,560 3,820 
			 Croydon 2,800 2,850 3,030 3,220 3,410 3,510 3,660 3,800 3,990 
			 Cumbria 2,160 2,380 2,560 2,810 3,000 3,050 3,310 3,400 3,620 
			 Darlington 2,270 2,380 2,580 2,830 2,990 3,030 3,260 3,400 3,640 
			 Derby 2,410 2,540 2,750 2,960 3,090 3,200 3,370 3,490 3,700 
			 Derbyshire 2,240 2,350 2,520 2,740 2,870 2,950 3,150 3,230 3,450 
			 Devon 2,480 2,540 2,650 2,860 3,000 3,060 3,250 3,320 3,510 
			 Doncaster 2,350 2,470 2,650 2,880 3,020 3,130 3,450 3,540 3,760 
			 Dorset 2,420 2,450 2,600 2,800 2,930 2,980 3,100 3,190 3,360 
			 Dudley 2,100 2,300 2,470 2,670 2,820 2,900 3,110 3,210 3,480 
			 Durham 2,280 2,410 2,580 2,850 3,090 3,130 3,330 3,430 3,700 
			 Ealing 2,750 2,950 3,150 3,400 3,640 3,750 4,100 4,260 4,570 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 2,230 2,360 2,530 2,770 2,930 2,960 3,150 3,230 3,440 
			 East Sussex 2,520 2,610 2,780 3,020 3,180 3,230 3,370 3,490 3,670 
			 Enfield 2,770 2,890 3,090 3,290 3,500 3,670 3,870 4,020 4,190 
			 Essex 2,530 2,590 2,730 2,950 3,120 3,180 3,340 3,450 3,620 
			 Gateshead 2,220 2,470 2,640 2,890 3,100 3,220 3,470 3,550 3,740 
			 Gloucestershire 2,340 2,430 2,600 2,820 2,960 3,020 3,150 3,210 3,420 
			 Greenwich 3,270 3,340 3,620 3,960 4,190 4,330 4,620 4,770 5,100 
			 Hackney 3,850 3,870 4,210 4,520 4,750 4,960 5,300 5,440 5,810 
			 Halton 2,460 2,550 2,740 3,000 3,240 3,370 3,610 3,730 3,960 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 3,620 3,640 3,900 4,240 4,510 4,790 5,040 5,230 5,410 
			 Hampshire 2,390 2,470 2,600 2,810 2,990 3,050 3,200 3,290 3,450 
			 Haringey 3,190 3,290 3,570 3,850 4,130 4,290 4,490 4,670 4,850 
			 Harrow 2,670 2,740 2,900 3,120 3,300 3,390 3,720 3,870 4,130 
			 Hartlepool 2,330 2,460 2,630 2,840 3,020 3,160 3,490 3,600 3,850 
			 Havering 2,520 2,630 2,750 2,930 3,120 3,190 3,360 3,460 3,640 
			 Herefordshire 2,510 2,550 2,700 2,910 3,040 3,120 3,400 3,490 3,700 
			 Hertfordshire 2,490 2,550 2,680 2,900 3,060 3,110 3,290 3,390 3,530 
			 Hillingdon 2,690 2,780 2,960 3,140 3,250 3,330 3,630 3,780 4,030 
			 Hounslow 2,770 2,880 3,090 3,320 3,500 3,690 4,040 4,160 4,440 
			 Isle of Wight 2,570 2,680 2,840 3,070 3,240 3,300 3,420 3,530 3,700 
			 Islington 3,520 3,650 3,920 4,340 4,640 4,800 5,080 5,280 5,600 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 3,540 3,600 3,990 4,360 4,720 5,050 5,240 5,440 5,600 
			 Kent 2,480 2,580 2,740 2,960 3,130 3,200 3,330 3,460 3,600 
			 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 2,510 2,580 2,770 3,030 3,200 3,340 3,580 3,680 3,900 
			 Kingston upon Thames 2,490 2,580 2,740 2,970 3,190 3,240 3,410 3,520 3,780 
			 Kirklees 2,330 2,460 2,670 2,890 3,070 3,160 3,390 3,520 3,750 
			 Knowsley 2,640 2,790 2,980 3,300 3,580 3,700 3,860 3,950 4,140 
			 Lambeth 3,870 3,910 4,170 4,470 4,680 4,900 5,160 5,350 5,600 
			 Lancashire 2,340 2,460 2,630 2,870 3,030 3,090 3,250 3,360 3,570 
			 Leeds 2,310 2,420 2,580 2,840 3,070 3,170 3,350 3,430 3,640 
			 Leicester 2,560 2,680 2,890 3,110 3,260 3,410 3,730 3,850 4,080 
			 Leicestershire 2,300 2,360 2,510 2,710 2,850 2,880 2,990 3,090 3,260 
			 Lewisham 3,550 3,600 3,830 4,100 4,350 4,540 4,800 4,900 5,230 
			 Lincolnshire 2,330 2,450 2,600 2,820 2,980 3,060 3,260 3,350 3,570 
			 Liverpool 2,620 2,760 2,940 3,300 3,550 3,650 3,790 3,880 4,070 
			 Luton 2,750 2,760 2,960 3,180 3,340 3,470 3,700 3,810 4,040 
			 Manchester 2,730 2,850 3,090 3,470 3,720 3,820 4,040 4,120 4,330 
			 Medway 2,460 2,550 2,720 2,930 3,080 3,170 3,260 3,350 3,500 
			 Merton 2,700 2,740 2,920 3,180 3,430 3,420 3,720 3,860 4,130 
			 Middlesbrough 2,470 2,620 2,830 3,060 3,270 3,450 3,700 3,890 4,160 
			 Milton Keynes 2,690 2,650 2,800 3,020 3,190 3,260 3,430 3,560 3,770 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 2,640 2,620 2,800 3,060 3,260 3,380 3,620 3,720 3,940 
			 Newham 3,280 3,380 3,570 3,780 4,050 4,210 4,470 4,610 4,870 
			 Norfolk 2,430 2,500 2,660 2,890 3,060 3,130 3,300 3,420 3,610 
			 North East Lincolnshire 2,370 2,500 2,690 2,930 3,120 3,190 3,350 3,450 3,690 
			 North Lincolnshire 2,320 2,500 2,680 2,870 2,990 3,050 3,310 3,400 3,650 
			 North Somerset 2,290 2,400 2,580 2,780 2,890 2,940 3,120 3,200 3,420 
			 North Tyneside 2,230 2,340 2,510 2,750 2,920 3,080 3,300 3,370 3,550 
			 North Yorkshire 2,300 2,410 2,590 2,820 2,970 3,030 3,270 3,340 3,540 
			 Northamptonshire 2,280 2,380 2,560 2,760 2,900 2,970 3,200 3,280 3,490 
			 Northumberland 2,250 2,380 2,540 2,760 2,930 2,980 3,230 3,330 3,580 
			 Nottingham 2,670 2,750 2,970 3,220 3,400 3,570 3,720 3,870 4,170 
			 Nottinghamshire 2,340 2,370 2,520 2,760 2,900 2,960 3,120 3,200 3,400 
			 Oldham 2,360 2,480 2,710 2,940 3,090 3,270 3,500 3,630 3,890 
			 Oxfordshire 2,540 2,580 2,730 2,950 3,110 3,170 3,330 3,430 3,610 
			 Peterborough 2,480 2,590 2,800 3,020 3,160 3,250 3,480 3,620 3,830 
			 Plymouth 2,510 2,570 2,690 2,890 3,020 3,100 3,210 3,290 3,500 
			 Poole 2,440 2,420 2,540 2,720 2,850 2,900 3,000 3,030 3,260 
			 Portsmouth 2,550 2,650 2,810 3,010 3,220 3,300 3,440 3,560 3,730 
			 Reading 2,510 2,660 2,810 3,050 3,210 3,380 3,580 3,740 4,000 
			 Redbridge 2,770 2,830 2,970 3,130 3,290 3,370 3,590 3,730 3,940 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 2,330 2,450 2,620 2,850 3,090 3,210 3,460 3,590 3,790 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2,630 2,610 2,760 2,980 3,160 3,210 3,370 3,500 3,720 
			 Rochdale 2,380 2,510 2,720 2,970 3,140 3,330 3,520 3,660 3,930 
			 Rotherham 2,360 2,440 2,620 2,890 3,110 3,190 3,420 3,490 3,690 
			 Rutland 2,280 2,390 2,590 2,770 2,960 2,990 3,220 3,310 3,590 
			 Salford 2,380 2,530 2,720 3,030 3,300 3,380 3,600 3,690 3,930 
			 Sandwell 2,380 2,550 2,740 2,950 3,130 3,250 3,520 3,650 3,910 
			 Sefton 2,300 2,430 2,590 2,840 3,010 3,130 3,320 3,390 3,580 
			 Sheffield 2,420 2,500 2,690 2,990 3,180 3,230 3,430 3,520 3,700 
			 Shropshire 2,400 2,450 2,620 2,830 2,990 3,040 3,250 3,350 3,570 
			 Slough 2,820 3,040 3,210 3,430 3,620 3,730 3,980 4,130 4,320 
			 Solihull 2,180 2,320 2,450 2,620 2,760 2,840 3,130 3,200 3,400 
			 Somerset 2,350 2,440 2,620 2,830 2,980 3,040 3,190 3,290 3,460 
			 South Gloucestershire 2,200 2,330 2,500 2,680 2,800 2,850 3,010 3,090 3,300 
			 South Tyneside 2,370 2,500 2,690 2,960 3,170 3,290 3,580 3,700 3,890 
			 Southampton 2,590 2,690 2,840 3,070 3,250 3,330 3,520 3,640 3,850 
			 Southend-on-Sea 2,600 2,640 2,790 3,020 3,200 3,250 3,400 3,510 3,690 
			 Southwark 3,570 3,660 3,930 4,210 4,460 4,650 4,850 4,970 5,370 
			 St. Helens 2,300 2,410 2,570 2,800 3,030 3,170 3,420 3,510 3,690 
			 Staffordshire 2,210 2,300 2,450 2,650 2,790 2,810 3,040 3,130 3,330 
			 Stockport 2,200 2,300 2,470 2,690 2,850 2,900 3,100 3,190 3,390 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 2,290 2,400 2,560 2,840 3,070 3,200 3,440 3,530 3,700 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 2,320 2,420 2,590 2,850 3,070 3,210 3,480 3,590 3,820 
			 Suffolk 2,410 2,440 2,580 2,780 2,910 2,960 3,110 3,220 3,410 
			 Sunderland 2,330 2,450 2,600 2,850 3,040 3,170 3,430 3,540 3,750 
			 Surrey 2,500 2,560 2,700 2,900 3,060 3,120 3,270 3,350 3,570 
			 Sutton 2,720 2,740 2,890 3,060 3,240 3,300 3,460 3,590 3,750 
			 Swindon 2,460 2,450 2,570 2,770 2,910 2,950 3,180 3,270 3,490 
			 Tameside 2,270 2,390 2,560 2,790 3,000 3,090 3,290 3,420 3,610 
			 Telford and Wrekin 2,450 2,530 2,690 2,940 3,110 3,130 3,320 3,410 3,630 
			 Thurrock 2,700 2,760 2,910 3,120 3,290 3,380 3,550 3,680 3,820 
			 Torbay 2,520 2,540 2,660 2,880 3,000 3,030 3,180 3,260 3,450 
			 Tower Hamlets 3,690 3,850 4,240 4,510 4,830 5,050 5,460 5,600 6,020 
			 Trafford 2,250 2,340 2,510 2,720 2,900 2,930 3,160 3,220 3,460 
			 Wakefield 2,270 2,350 2,520 2,760 2,930 3,010 3,210 3,300 3,590 
			 Walsall 2,270 2,410 2,600 2,850 3,010 3,070 3,300 3,420 3,730 
			 Waltham Forest 3,090 3,130 3,320 3,560 3,810 3,960 4,100 4,270 4,440 
			 Wandsworth 3,280 3,330 3,570 3,820 4,060 4,140 4,500 4,610 4,940 
			 Warrington 2,240 2,320 2,450 2,660 2,820 2,880 3,030 3,100 3,310 
			 Warwickshire 2,240 2,370 2,540 2,740 2,880 2,960 3,170 3,260 3,450 
			 West Berkshire 2,330 2,470 2,600 2,850 3,030 3,050 3,320 3,410 3,680 
			 West Sussex 2,540 2,540 2,660 2,860 3,030 3,110 3,260 3,340 3,510 
			 Westminster 3,540 3,540 3,860 4,140 4,400 4,620 4,970 5,100 5,340 
			 Wigan 2,250 2,360 2,540 2,760 2,920 2,980 3,200 3,310 3,520 
			 Wiltshire 2,380 2,460 2,610 2,810 2,950 3,010 3,240 3,310 3,510 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 2,510 2,610 2,750 2,990 3,180 3,210 3,350 3,450 3,670 
			 Wirral 2,330 2,530 2,680 2,910 3,120 3,270 3,420 3,500 3,680 
			 Wokingham 2,320 2,400 2,510 2,730 2,900 2,980 3,170 3,260 3,530 
			 Wolverhampton 2,410 2,530 2,750 3,020 3,180 3,350 3,530 3,660 3,900 
			 Worcestershire 2,420 2,400 2,510 2,720 2,860 2,900 3,030 3,120 3,330 
			 York 2,250 2,360 2,520 2,730 2,860 2,910 3,030 3,120 3,330 
			  Notes: 1. Price Base: Real terms at 2005-06 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 27.09.06 2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment/Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS. 3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged 3-10 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level. For those authorities in receipt of advance of grant under the transitional support arrangements for 2004-05, advance grant funding is included in the year of payment (2004-05). There will be a consequential reduction in DfES grant for these LEAs in future years (either 2006-07 and 2007-08 or 2006-07 to 2008-09, depending on the terms on which the advance was given to the LEA). 4. The pupil numbers used to convert £m figures to £per pupil are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC 3 year old maintained pupils and estimated 3-4 year olds funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers. 5. Rounding: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 6. 1997-98 figures for authorities subject to Local Government Reorganisation in that year have been estimated, pro-rata to their post LGR figures. 7. The introduction of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in 2006-07 means that consistent figures are not available for 2006-07 onwards. 8. The (DSG) fundamentally changed how Local Authorities are funded. Previously, authorities funding was based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. In 2006-07 funding for schools changed with the introduction of the DSG which is based largely on an authority's previous spending. 9. In addition, DSG has a different coverage to EFS: EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG's Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified.

Pupils: Vaccination

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to meet ministerial colleagues in the Department of Health to discuss a schools-based national human papilloma virus immunisation programme.

Jim Knight: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Minister of State, Department of Health, my hon. Friend the Minister for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) on 12 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1031W.

Schools: Finance

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the projected year-end financial position is for each  (a) primary and  (b) secondary school in each local authority area in England in 2006-07 and 2007-08; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The information requested is not yet available. The Department will as planned begin collecting the section 52 Outturn data relating to the 2006-07 financial year in August 2007. For the financial year 2007-08 it will be collected August 2008.

Schools: Internet

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of internet filtering programmes used by schools in the South West.

Jim Knight: The South West Grid for Learning offers a managed internet filtering service to most schools in the South West region, including Swindon. The services offered passed the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency's Accreditation of Internet Services in 2006 in partnership with Research Machines. As part of this accreditation filtering of inappropriate content must be maintained at levels of at least 90 per cent. and processes and performance reviews must be in place for strengthening the service where necessary.

Schools: Standards

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools failed Ofsted inspections in each of the past 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: This question is a matter for Ofsted and their HMCI Christine Gilbert has written to my hon. Friend with the information requested. A copy of the response has been placed in the House Library.
	 Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 22 February 2007:
	Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools failed Ofsted inspections in each of the past 10 years; and if he would make a statement.
	I have interpreted 'failed' to mean those categorised as requiring special measures. I set out below a table showing the number of schools placed in special measures since 1997.
	
		
			   Primary  Secondary  Special  Pru  Total 
			 1997-98 210 43 32 5 290 
			 1998-99 142 29 17 6 (1)194 
			 1999-2000 168 38 16 8 230 
			 2000-01 100 23 9 5 137 
			 2001-02 94 19 10 6 129 
			 2002-03 99 35 18 8 160 
			 2003-04 130 61 13 9 213 
			 2004-05 55 37 9 2 103 
			 2005-06 117 32 2 13 164 
			 (1)Figure revised from that published in the annual report of Her Majesty Chief Inspector of Schools for that year. 
		
	
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools, and will be placed in the Library of both Houses.

Sure Start and Early Years Programmes

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Copeland have participated in the Sure Start and Early Years programmes since their introduction; what targets are used to monitor the effects of the programmes; and what performance has been against those targets.

Beverley Hughes: The Sure Start Children's Centres targets are expressed in terms of the number of children we expect centres to be reaching. Copeland has four designated children's centres reaching 1,753 children under five: Cleator Moor, Frizington Nursery and Early Excellence Centre, Millom and Whitehaven. Nationally, over 800,000 children and their families now have the opportunity to access children's centre services: significant progress in our target to have a children's centre for every community by 2010.
	Our Planning and Performance Management Guidance for children's centres, issued last November, includes key performance indicators and a self-evaluation process for children's centres to use in discussion with their local authority and the local community. The performance indicators relate to: Foundation Stage profile results; child obesity; mothers initiating breastfeeding; children in workless households; teenage mothers in education, employment or training; access for the most excluded groups; and parental satisfaction.
	We have contracted with the Together for Children (TfC) Consortium to challenge and support local authorities in the light of progress against the national indicators drawing on local level data to demonstrate children's centres progress and performance.

Teachers: English Language

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the impact of the proposed changes to the funding of English for the speakers of other languages courses on the numbers of  (a) teaching and  (b) lecturing jobs in this field.

Phil Hope: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has planning and funding responsibility for all post-16 education and training other than higher education. The full details of their funding strategy for 2007/08 are explained in the LSC's Annual Statement of Priorities which was published in October 2006. The budget for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is expected to remain comparable in 2007/08.
	The demand for ESOL is expected to remain high with waiting lists continuing in many parts of the country. From September, additional ESOL for Work qualifications will be introduced; these will be flexible, more work-focused and aimed at meeting the immediate English language acquisition needs of learners who are in employment or who are intending to work in this country, but who do not intend to settle here.
	There has been heavy intervention in development and professionalisation of the further education work force. Providers should take up the opportunity and challenge to ensure that staff have the best access to skills, development qualifications and resources to deliver the best quality provision possible for learners.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Council Tax: Valuation

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many domestic properties have been photographed by the Valuation Office Agency as part of the revaluation of domestic properties originally planned for 1 April 2007;
	(2)  what criteria are used by the Valuation Office Agency in selecting properties to photograph as part of the revaluation of domestic properties;
	(3)  how many complaints the Valuation Office Agency has received about its practice of photographing domestic properties as part of the domestic properties revaluation;
	(4)  what estimate she has made of the cost of photographing domestic properties as part of the domestic properties revaluation process.

Phil Woolas: No revaluation of domestic properties is taking place in England. This was postponed on 20 September 2005.
	On the number of photographs held by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 8 February 2007,  Official Report, column 1164W.
	I also refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 8 June 2006,  Official Report, column 757W, which sets out the criteria used by the VOA in selecting properties to photograph.
	Since the postponement of the council tax revaluation in England only 10 complaints have been received which include any reference to the taking of photographs, and only two of those actually relate to the VGA's practice.
	No estimate of the cost of photographing domestic properties has been made.

Departments: Civil Servants

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total sum of bonuses paid to civil servants in her Department was in  (a) 2005 and (b) 2006.

Angela Smith: Bonus payments to senior civil servants (SCS) and non-SCS staff in Communities and Local Government (CLG) were as follows:
	
		
			   Total amount of awards (£) 
			  Senior civil servants  
			 2005 426,000 
			 2006 570,000 
			   
			  Non-SCS staff  
			 2005 170,000 
			 2006 330,000 
			   
			  Special bonus awards  
			 2004-05 116,000 
			 2005-06 105,000 
		
	
	CLG is committed to rewarding good performance:
	Senior civil servants (SCS) receive bonuses in respect of overall performance and the delivery of agreed personal business objectives or targets.
	Non-SCS staff receive bonus awards upon obtaining an overall exceeded marking, based on an assessment of objectives in their annual performance reports.
	Special bonus awards are paid in respect of exceptional performance on a specific task or at a specific time.

Departments: Equal Opportunities

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department has taken to implement the Race Equality Duty since 2000.

Angela Smith: Following the introduction of the race duties, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) (the predecessor department to Communities and Local Government) published a Race Equality scheme (RES) in May 2003 and a revised and updated RES in April 2006.
	The latest RES covers the period 2005-08 and is accessible on the departmental website. It sets out in detail how we have implemented the Race Equality Duty. This includes information on how we:
	assess, and consult on, the likely impact proposed policies will have on promoting race equality;
	monitor policies for any adverse impact on promoting race equality;
	publish the results of assessments, consultation, and monitoring;
	make sure the public have access to information and services; and
	train staff to carry out the general duty and the specific duties.
	In 2006, ODPM carried out race equality impact assessments of a number of key policies and programmes and rolled out training, developed in line with Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) guidance. Regulatory impact of any new policy must now include consideration of race equality.
	The Department has introduced a specific competency relating to diversity, applicable at all levels of the fire and rescue service and is developing systems of recruitment and selection which are being tested for adverse impact. Furthermore, funding has been allocated to support initiatives to address homelessness levels within ethnic minority groups.
	Following the machinery of Government changes in May 2006, Communities and Local Government will be publishing a new RES 2007, in line with the functions and role of the new department. This will include employment monitoring data and a commitment to undertake progress reviews at regular intervals.
	The Department leads on the Equalities Review, the Discrimination Law Review and the preparations for the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

Departments: Theft

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what items valued at above £100 were reported as stolen from her Department's buildings or premises in the last 12 months.

Angela Smith: The items valued above £100 which were reported stolen from the buildings and premises of Communities and Local Government and its immediate predecessor Department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, in the period 1 February 2006 to 31 January 2007 are as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 Four Dell laptop computers valued at approximately 3,500 
			 Two Dell desktop PCs valued at approximately 2,400 
			 One Dell flat-screen 15 inch monitor valued at approximately 150 
			 One Compaq iPAQ 380 Projector valued at approximately 800 
			 One Nokia 623 Mobile phone valued at approximately 200 
			 One Dell GX 260 base unit valued at approximately 400 
		
	
	This answer does not include property owned by the Government offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments, but does include CLG agencies.
	None of the information contained in the PCs above was classified. However, each laptop and desktop PC was password protected.

Equal Opportunities: Age

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will consult on proposals to introduce a ban on age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services.

Meg Munn: The Government are considering whether there is a case for introducing legislation to prohibit harmful age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services as part of the Discrimination Law Review. The proposals emerging from the review will be published in a Green Paper for public consultation shortly.

Equal Opportunities: Age

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will consult on proposals to introduce a positive duty on public authorities to promote age equality.

Meg Munn: The Government are considering the case for extending protection from discrimination on grounds of age beyond employment. There have been strong calls from stakeholders to introduce a duty on the public sector to promote age equality. This issue is being considered as part of the Discrimination Law Review. Proposals emerging from the review will be published in a Green Paper for public consultation shortly.

Fire Service

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the estimated cost is of each regional fire control centre; and what stage each regional project has reached.

Angela Smith: Good progress is being made on the project at regional level. Three regions have already established their local authority controlled companies that will operate their Regional Control Centre. One Regional Control Centre Director is in post and the recruitment of others is in hand. Regions have completed preliminary planning and scoping work around all the major activities they will need to undertake to transfer controls to the RCC network.
	Detailed planning will start in the next few months once the IT contract has been awarded and the timetable for transfer to the new system has been agreed.
	Each Regional Control Centre will be leased from the owners of the buildings. Details of the rents, lengths of leases and the dates when the buildings are due for completion are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Region  Lease length (years)  Rent (£ per annum exclusive of VAT)  Target practical completion date  Rent commencement date 
			 North East 20 1,156,009 30 March 2007 13 January 2008 
			 East Midlands 25 1,205,000 29 June 2007 20 January 2008 
			 South West 20 1,213,500 16 May 2007 16 November 2007 
			 West Midlands 25 1,358,311 20 December 2007 4 October 2008 
			 North West 25 1,197,500 1 July 2008 1 January 2009 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 20 1,198,808 1 July 2008 14 April 2009 
			 East of England 25 1,349,322 1 October 2008 21 April 2009 
			 South East 25 1,445,000 14 May 2008 14 November 2008 
			 London (estimate only) — — Q1 2010 — 
		
	
	A public procurement process under EU rules is still under way for the London regional control centre

Local Authorities: Private Bills

Daniel Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assistance is available to local authorities to fund the costs associated with stewarding a private Bill through the parliamentary process.

Phil Woolas: Councils promote Private Bills at their own discretion and are responsible for meeting the costs of doing this from their own resources.

Local Government Finance

Daniel Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total Revenue Support Grant was in each local authority in each year since 1997.

Phil Woolas: Tables showing the amount of Revenue Support Grant for each local authority in England from 1998-99 to 2007-08 have been placed in the Library of the House.
	It should be borne in mind that the numbers shown in these tables are not necessarily comparable year-on-year owing to changes in the funding, function and structure of local authorities during this time, and because Revenue Support Grant is only one component of formula grant.

Members: Correspondence

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the Minister for Housing and Planning expects to reply to the letters of 8 December 2005, 16 February 2006 and 10 January 2007 from the hon. Member for Hazel Grove on the implementation of the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004; and if she will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: I have now replied to the hon. Member's correspondence. I apologise for the delay.

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many admissions via accident and emergency to NHS hospitals in England for alcohol-related conditions there were in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The following table lists the admissions via accident and emergency (A and E) to national health service hospitals in England for alcohol-related conditions in each year since 1997. The Government are committed to tackling alcohol related harm through the implementation of the alcohol harm reduction strategy for England which was published in March 2004. This work includes the £3.2 million identification and brief advice trailblazer programme aimed at hazardous and harmful drinkers which was launched in October 2006. A number of trailblazers will be placed in accident and emergency departments.
	All diagnosis count of finished in year admission episodes admitted via accident and emergency departments for alcohol-related illness for 1997-98 to 2005-06.
	
		
			   Total 
			 1997-98 75,863 
			 1998-99 76,665 
			 1999-2000 82,073 
			 2000-01 80,801 
			 2001-02 85,256 
			 2002-03 89,942 
			 2003-04 106,756 
			 2004-05 127,143 
			 2005-06 148,477 
			  Notes:  Finished in-year admissions.  A finished in-year admission is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider, excluding admissions beginning before 1 April at the start of the datayear. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.  Data Quality Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are compiled from data sent by over 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England. The Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.  Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed). Diagnosis codes F10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders Due to Use of Alcohol; K70 Alcoholic Liver Disease; T51 Toxic Effect of Alcohol These figures represent a count of all finished in year admission episodes where the method of admission was coded as emergency: via accident and emergency services, including the casualty department of the provider; or emergency: other means, including patients who arrive via the A and E department of another provider.  Source:  Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for Health and social care.

Breast Cancer: Waiting Lists

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of women were examined by a breast cancer specialist within two weeks of a referral from their general practitioner in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The percentage of women with suspected breast cancer seen by a specialist within two weeks of urgent referral by their general practitioner in the last 12 months is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Breast cancer: percentage of women seen by a specialist within two weeks of urgent referral in England 
			  Quarter   Number of patients seen  Percentage 
			 Q3 2005-06 33,424 99.9 
			 Q4 2005-06 33,071 99.9 
			 Q1 2006-07 34,710 100 
			 Q2 2006-07 33,078 100 
			  Note: Further data on cancer waiting times performance is available on the Department's website at www.performance.doh.gov.uk/cancerwaits

Cervical Cancer: Vaccination

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Government plans to introduce a national human papilloma virus immunisation programme in 2007-08.

Caroline Flint: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is in the process of thoroughly examining the vaccine safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness evidence concerning human papilloma virus vaccines. The work is being taken forward by a sub-group of JCVI, who will present their findings to the parent committee. The Government will consider the advice from JCVI on this issue when it has been given.

Cervical Cancer: Vaccination

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what conclusion the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation reached at its meeting on 14 February 2007 on the implementation of a national human papilloma virus immunisation programme; and if she will immediately publish the minutes of that meeting.

Caroline Flint: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) noted the progress being made by the JCVI subgroup on human papilloma virus (HPV). The HPV sub-group will continue its work and report back to the main JCVI.
	The minutes of the JCVI meeting will be made available on the website within three months of the main committee meetings.

Child Heart Operations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many heart operations on children in  (a) Leicester Royal Infirmary,  (b) Leicester General Hospital,  (c) Glenfield Hospital and  (d) England were cancelled in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally.

Chiropodists

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many chiropodists were employed in the NHS in England in each of the last 10 years, broken down by primary care trust; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The available information has been placed in the Library. Primary care trusts were first introduced in 2000 and information is available from 2002. Information for earlier years has been broken down by strategic health authority.

Clinical Academic Posts

Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the new Walport clinical lectureship posts will be funded; and if she will ensure that they are not affected by NHS financial deficits.

Rosie Winterton: The requirement to support these posts for 2007-08 will be included in the Department's service level agreement with strategic health authorities (SHAs). The Department is also discussing the longer-term funding arrangements with SHAs.

Dental Services

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the effect of the new dental contract on  (a) numbers of people with access to NHS dentistry,  (b) levels of NHS dental activity,  (c) numbers of patients treated and  (d) levels of inequality in oral health.

Rosie Winterton: The Information Centre for health and social care publishes information each quarter on the number of patients receiving care or treatment from national health service dental services in the last 24 months. The information for the 24-month periods ending March, June and September 2006 is set out as follows. It suggests access has remained broadly stable over this transitional period.
	
		
			  Number of patients seen in the two years ending 31 March, 30 June and 30 September 2006 (including orthodontic activity)—England 
			  2006  Patients seen  Patients seen per 1,000 population 
			 March 28,144,599 558 
			 June 28,068,025 557 
			 September 28,083,591 557 
		
	
	NHS dental activity is measured through units of dental activity, which are a weighted measure of the number of courses of treatment provided. The latest published information on primary care trust (PCT) dental commissioning shows that, as at 30 November, PCTs had commissioned services that will, over a full year, provide 78.6 million units of dental activity.
	It is not possible to make a precise comparison with courses of treatment provided in previous years, but our best estimate is that the courses of treatment provided in 2005-06 would have equated to some 76.7 million units of dental activity. It will not be possible to measure the full impact on access or levels of activity until all of these newly commissioned services are operational.
	It is too early to assess the impact of the dental reforms on inequalities in oral health. The main factors affecting oral health are exposure to fluoride, oral hygiene, and diet and nutrition. However, the new contracts are designed to allow more time for preventative advice. The new system of local commissioning also gives PCTs greater flexibility to match services to local needs. There are already several examples of PCTs that have set up new dental practices in areas of greater oral health need.

Dental Services

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) dentists and  (b) whole-time equivalent dentists provided NHS services in each month since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The numbers of dentists listed to carry out national health service work as at 31 March in each of the years from 1997 to 2006 are set out in the first table. This information is drawn from the 'National Health Service (NHS) Dental Activity and Workforce Report, England, 31 March 2006', published in August 2006 by The Information Centre for health and social care.
	The Information Centre for health and social care now publishes quarterly data on the numbers of dentists on open NHS contracts. Data as at 30 June and 30 September 2006 are set out in the second table.
	This more recent information is based on the new NHS dental contractual arrangements between providers and primary care trusts (PCTs), introduced on 1 April 2006. Earlier data are based on the old contractual arrangements for principal dentists and are not directly comparable.
	The amount of NHS work carried out during a particular year or quarter will vary between dentists. Information is not available on a whole time basis.
	
		
			  General dental services (CDS) and personal dental services (PDS): numbers of CDS and PDS dentists in England as at 31 March each year 
			   Number 
			 1997 16,470 
			 1998 16,932 
			 1999 17,475 
			 2000 17,988 
			 2001 18,353 
			 2002 18,657 
			 2003 18,801 
			 2004 19,026 
			 2005 19,797 
			 2006 21,111 
		
	
	
		
			  Numbers of dentists on open NHS contracts in England as at 30 June and 30 September 2006 
			   Number 
			 30 June 2006 19,462 
			 30 September 2006 20,285 
			  Source: The Information Centre for health and social care NHS Business Services Authority (BSA)

Dental Services

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the effect of the banding introduced by the new dental contract on the  (a) cost and  (b) complexity of treatments given.

Rosie Winterton: The Department does not routinely collect information on the cost or complexity of treatments given. It is for primary care trusts to work with providers of national health service dental services locally to review evidence from contract monitoring and from clinical governance activities that is relevant to patterns of treatment. The Information Centre for health and social care publishes periodic reports on dentists' earnings and expenses that will provide evidence on any general trends in the expenses incurred by NHS providers following the introduction of new dental contracts. The Department is considering with the other parties that give annual evidence on dental services to the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration what additional evidence could be produced on patterns of treatment and their impact on workload and expenses.

Dental Services

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she has had with  (a) the Dental Laboratories Association and  (b) other dental organisations on the effect of the new dental contract on treatment prescribed.

Rosie Winterton: The Department has established an implementation review group comprising dentistry, patient and national health service representatives to review the impact of the dental reforms. The group includes members of the Dental Laboratories Association. The impact on patterns of treatment is one of the issues that the group is reviewing.

Dental Services

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts have imposed restrictions on NHS dental activities as a result of budgetary pressures; and what restrictions have been imposed by the primary care trust in each case.

Rosie Winterton: All existing providers of primary dental services under both general dental services contracts and personal dental services agreements have contracts with their local primary care trust (PCT) setting out the level of services they are contracted to carry out over the course of the year and their annual contract value. PCTs cannot unilaterally reduce the service levels agreed in these contracts.
	It is for PCTs to decide how far to commission additional dental services, taking account of local needs and priorities. The Department does not collect information on the local factors taken into account in these decisions. The Department collects regular information on the overall levels of dental services commissioned by PCTs, which shows that levels of commissioning have risen steadily over the course of the year.

Dental Services

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists have served notice to terminate their NHS contracts in each of the last four months.

Rosie Winterton: This information is not held centrally.

Dental Services: Children

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of children in Chorley constituency are registered with an NHS dentist.

Rosie Winterton: The latest information available on patients (children) registered was published in August 2006 at primary care trust (PCT) level by The Information Centre for health and social care as part of the national health service dental activity and workforce report March 2006. Chorley and South Ribble PCT area covers four parliamentary constituency areas, which are Chorley, Preston, Ribble Valley and South Ribble. Please note that the PCT and strategic health authority (SHA) boundaries have changed since March 2006.
	Registration data no longer form part of the new contract information. Instead the new measure is patients seen within the last 24 months. Data showing patients seen split by adult and child will be published for the first time by The Information Centre for health and social care as part of the quarter three publication due for release in March 2007.
	
		
			  General dental services (GDS) and personal dental services (PDS): Children registered and proportion of children registered with a dentist, by specific PCT, SHA, and England as at 31 March 2006 
			   Children registered  Proportion of children registered 
			 England 7,044,134 64 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire SHA 261,416 61 
			 Chorley and South Ribble PCT 30,079 66 
			  Notes: 1. The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. PCT and SHA areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics all fields postcode directory. The PCT and SHA boundaries used are as at 31 March 2006. 2. Dentists consist of principals, assistant and trainees. Information on NHS dentistry in the community dental service, in hospitals and in prisons are excluded. 3. The data in this report are based on NHS dentists on PCT lists. These details were passed on to the BSA who paid dentists based on activity undertaken. A dentist can provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the PCT. In some cases an NHS dentist may appear on a PCT list but not perform any NHS work in that period. Most NHS dentists do some private work. The data do not take into account the proportion of NHS work undertaken by dentists. 4. Data have been estimated using Office for National Statistics 2004 mid-year population estimates based on the 2001 Census as these were the latest available at the time of publication.  Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) Office for National Statistics

Dental Services: Leeds

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists in Leeds did not take up the new dental contracts on 1 April 2006; and what percentage of those who were offered the contract that number represented.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 19 February 2007
	Of the 138 contracts that were offered to national health service dentists in Leeds on 1 April 2006, 32 were rejected. This represents 23 per cent. of the contracts that were offered.

Eastbourne Hospital

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations her Department has received about the possible reconfiguration of services at Eastbourne District General Hospital.

Caroline Flint: The Department does not keep data on the precise number of representations received on a specific issue.

Fertility: Misconduct

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many fertility clinics in  (a) London,  (b) Essex and  (c) England and Wales were investigated by (i) regulators and (ii) police following allegations of malpractice in each year since 2000; and how many are being investigated in such circumstances.

Caroline Flint: Fertility clinics that provide in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, treatment using donor embryos and gametes and the storage of embryos and gametes are regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The HFEA routinely inspects licensed clinics and follows up any potential breaches of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 or its code of practice. The Healthcare Commission also inspects establishments offering fertility treatment services.
	I am informed by the HFEA that since 2000 there have been four licensed fertility clinics in England and Wales where the allegations investigated could have led to the revocation of the establishment's licence or prosecution of the person responsible. Two investigations have been completed. The remaining two, in London, are ongoing. There have been no similar investigations of clinics in Essex.
	Since it came into operation in 2004, the Healthcare Commission has undertaken one investigation of a complaint about a fertility clinic. This is an ongoing investigation in London.
	Details of investigations undertaken by the police are not held centrally by the Department.

Haemophilia: Blood Transfusions

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many documents held in Government records which relate to the infection of haemophiliacs by contaminated blood products and which were thought to have been inadvertently destroyed have been rediscovered; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what records her Department holds of meetings conducted in 1976 on the need for or production of factor XIII for people with haemophilia in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: In February 2006, the Department published a report "Self-Sufficiency in Blood Products in England and Wales". This report considered the issue of self sufficiency in Factor VIII during the 1970s and 1980s, including the issues around the production and usage of Factor VIII. Reference 92 and reference 93 contained in the report are minutes of meetings held in 1976. This information is in the public domain.
	In addition we have released papers which were returned to the Department from Blackett Hart and Pratt solicitors. Some of these papers date back to 1976, and refer to self-sufficiency in blood products.
	Officials have been working on identifying and reviewing all the documents currently held by the Department relating to the safety of blood products between 1970 and 1985. This will assist officials in establishing the full position in relation to departmental papers on this issue.

Haemophilia: Blood Transfusions

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on which dates her Department sought legal advice on the extent of its liability for the administration of contaminated blood products to people with haemophilia and subsequent infection with hepatitis C and HIV; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: We regret that patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through treatment with plasma products, prior to the introduction of heat treatment in the mid-1980s. However, the Department has not admitted liability for the tragic infection of patients with haemophilia.
	Legal advice would have been sought prior to the HIV litigation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the hepatitis C litigation which commenced in 2000.

Haemophilia: Blood Transfusions

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which body in her Department  (a) funded and  (b) carried out research into haemophilia blood products prior to the introduction of viral inactivation technology including the taking of liver enzyme samples; for what purpose this research was carried out; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Department does not undertake research activity. The main agency through which the Government supports medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC).
	Officials are unable to establish specific research projects relating directly to this issue. However, we know of a study at the Oxford Haemophilia Centre, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was funded by the Department, into the epidemiology and chronic sequelae of factor VIII and IX associated hepatitis in the United Kingdom. Papers in connection to this study have been released under the Freedom of Information Act.
	In February last year, the Department published the report "Self Sufficiency in Blood Products in England and Wales", which provides a summary on the issue of infected blood products and is available from the Department's website:
	www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAnd GuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4130917&chk=c91C7q

Haemophilia: Blood Transfusions

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether blood taken from people with haemophilia has been used at any time since 1977 to measure the pathogenic potential of the UK blood supply; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: We are unaware of such assessments.
	Donor screening for HIV was introduced in 1985 and donor screening for hepatitis C was introduced in September 1991. Both these microbiological tests were introduced as soon as practicable.

Health Education: Drugs

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the annual budget is for education programmes on  (a) drugs and  (b) alcohol in each year since 2004.

Caroline Flint: The FRANK drug information campaign was launched in May 2003, providing young people and their families with advice and information about drug misuse. The campaign is administered and funded jointly by the Department, the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The joint total spend across the whole campaign, is shown in the following table.
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2003-04 4.25 
			 2004-05 4.3 
			 2005-06 6.17 
			 2006-07 (1)9.18 
			 (1 )Estimated 
		
	
	The Department and the Home Office jointly will spend £3.77 million in 2006-07 on the 'Know your Limits' campaign, which seeks to prevent binge drinking. This campaign began in 2006-07.
	DfES is responsible for the funding of education programmes in schools and we do not hold information on this.

Health Professions: Gloucestershire

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) consultants,  (b) registrars,  (c) junior doctors and  (d) nurses were employed by Gloucestershire Acute Trust and its predecessor organisations in (i) 1995, (ii) 1998, (iii) 2000, (iv) 2003 and (v) the latest year for which figures are available; and what the full-time equivalent numbers were in each category in each year.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 5 February 2007
	The requested data for 1995, 1998 and 2000 are not directly comparable with data available for 2003 and 2005 due to organisational mergers. In 2002, Acute Services from both East Gloucestershire National Health Service Trust and Gloucester Royal NHS Trust merged to form Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust. Mental health and learning disabilities services from East Gloucestershire NHS Trust formed part of Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust, and the remaining community services of East Gloucestershire NHS Trust formed parts of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Primary Care Trust (PCT), West Gloucestershire PCT and Cotswold and Vale PCT. We have no information on which organisations the remaining services for Gloucester Royal NHS Trust merged with.

Health Services: Eastbourne

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent on health care per capita in Eastbourne in each of the last 10 years.

Caroline Flint: Expenditure data are not normally available at a constituency level as this rarely coincides with the boundaries of individual health bodies. Data at individual health body level are retained for seven years and therefore data for 1996-97 is not now available.
	The following table shows the total expenditure per head by organisations within the Surrey and Sussex strategic health authority area (£) for the period 1997-98 to 2005-06.
	
		
			   Expenditure per head (£) 
			 1997-98 618.46 
			 1998-99 656.23 
			 1999-2000 780.67 
			 2000-01 815.77 
			 2001-02 903.64 
			 2002-03 960.55 
			 2003-04 1,097.02 
			 2004-05 1,181.31 
			 2005-06 1,260.91 
			  Notes: 1. Expenditure by strategic health authority area is taken as the total expenditure of the strategic health authority, predecessor health authorities and primary care trusts within the strategic health authority area. 2. Expenditure shown does not include all NHS expenditure within the area. Expenditure on general dental services and pharmaceutical services accounted for by the Dental Practice Board and Prescription Pricing Authority, respectively, are excluded. This expenditure cannot be included within the figures for the individual health bodies as they are not included in commissioner accounts.  Sources: Audited accounts of relevant health authorities 1997-98 to 2001-02 audited summarisation forms of Surrey and Sussex strategic health authority 2002-03 to 2005-06 audited summarisation schedules of relevant primary care trusts 2000-01 to 2005-06 Office for National Statistics unweighted population figures.

Health Services: Kent

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what forecast she has made of the financial positions of  (a) Dartford and Gravesend primary care trust (PCT), (b) Medway PCT and (c) West Kent PCT at the end of the 2006-07 financial year.

Caroline Flint: The table shows the forecast outturn for 2006-07 at month six for Dartford Gravesham and Swanley primary care trust (PCT) and Medway PCT. The figures for West Kent PCT are not yet available.
	
		
			  Organisation name  2006-07 month six forecast outturn surplus/(deficit) 
			 Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley PCT (15,054) 
			 Medway PCT (3,045) 
			  Source: NHS financial performance quarter two 2006-07.

Heart Operations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what factors health authorities take into account when deciding whether a particular heart operation is urgent.

Rosie Winterton: The length of time patients wait depends on their clinical priority. Emergency cases need to be seen immediately. Other cases will be treated as quickly as possible. However, this is dependent on the clinical priority of all the remaining patients waiting to be seen. The responsibility for decisions about when urgent cases are treated lies in the hands of clinicians.

Home Births

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many home births there were in England in each of the last six years.

Ivan Lewis: Information on the number of home deliveries for the years 1999-2000 to 2004-05 is shown in the following table. This information is taken from "National Health Service Maternity Statistics, England: 2004-05". A copy has been placed in the Library.
	
		
			  Number of home deliveries—1999-2000 to 2004-05 
			   Number of home deliveries 
			 1999-2000 12,500 
			 2000-01 11,600 
			 2001-02 11,700 
			 2002-02 12,100 
			 2003-04 12,900 
			 2004-05 13,700

Hospital Building

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what major hospital building projects have been approved in the last 12 months, broken down by parliamentary constituency; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The lists details schemes with a capital value of over £58.7 million (the threshold conventionally used to denote a major scheme at 2006-07 prices)
	
		
			  Schemes which were approved in August 2006 to proceed to the next stage following the private finance initiative review 
			  £ million 
			  Constituency  National health service trust  Capital value 
			 Newcastle-under-Lyme University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS trust 272 
			 Torbay South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust 163 
			 Salford Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust 190 
			 Denton and Reddish Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS trust 109 
			 Walsall, South Walsall Hospitals NHS trust 141 
			 Leicester, East University Hospital Leicester NHS trust 711 
		
	
	
		
			  Schemes which had full business cases approved, signed contracts and begun construction 
			  £ million 
			  Constituency  National health service trust  Capital value 
			 Haltemprice and Howden Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS trust 67 
			 St. Helens, North and St Helens Hospitals NHS trust 338 
			 St. Helens, South Birmingham, Edgbaston University Hospital Birmingham NHS trust 627 
			 Bethnal Green and Bow St. Barts and the London NHS trust 1000 
			 Holborn and St Pancras Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS trust 75 
			 Bristol, West United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust and North Bristol NHS trust 64 
			 Notes: These are the constituencies principally affected by the scheme, for example, those containing a significant element of new build or refurbishment.

Hospitals: Kent

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance she has issued on hospital opening hours over holiday periods; and which community hospitals were open on Christmas day 2006 in Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

Andy Burnham: It is for primary care trusts and national health service trusts to determine the appropriate pattern of service provision locally, taking into account the needs of local people.

Medical Treatments: Injuries

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects the wound clinics to be re-opened at Sittingbourne Memorial and Sheppey community hospitals.

Andy Burnham: This is a matter for the local national health service.

Mental Health Services

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many  (a) early intervention services,  (b) crisis resolution services and  (c) community development services have been adversely affected by mental health providers having contributed disproportionately to local health authority savings in the 2006-07 financial year;
	(2)  what action has been taken against strategic health authorities under which mental health providers have contributed disproportionately to savings in the 2006-07 financial year;
	(3)  what action will be taken against strategic health authorities if they do not  (a) provide a satisfactory rationale for disproportionate savings expected of mental health providers,  (b) make a satisfactory commitment to reduce the savings expected to be made by mental health providers in 2007-08 by the same amount they have been asked to over-contribute this year and  (c) make a satisfactory affirmation of their commitment to deliver their local development plans in mental health for early intervention, crisis resolution and the community development workers;
	(4)  what account is taken of  (a) inflation and  (b) the cost of reinstating services that have been withdrawn or reduced in order to make savings in considering what contribution mental health service providers will be required to make to health authority savings in 2007-08;
	(5)  if she will list cases of mental health services contributing disproportionately to NHS savings in the 2006-07 financial year which have been brought to the attention of her Department.

Rosie Winterton: The Department does not expect any mental health or learning disability service to be asked to contribute more in financial savings or cost improvement plans than any other service in the local health economy, unless that service contributed to the deficit.
	A small number of cases of possible disproportionate savings on mental health have been brought to the Department's attention in recent months, which were investigated by the Department's recovery and support unit. In each case investigated, the Department has now established that the savings required of mental health trusts were not disproportionate compared to the rest of the local health economy.

Mental Health Services: Lancashire

Kitty Ussher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clinical psychologists for adult mental health services there are in East Lancashire.

Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the format request. As at 30 September 2005, there were 119 qualified clinical psychology staff working at the Lancashire Care NHS Trust.

Mentally Ill: Greater London

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average spending was  (a) per head of the population and  (b) per patient of each mental health trust in London in the latest period for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 19 February 2007
	The information requested by the hon. Member is not available in the required format. Information on expenditure per head by primary care trust in London on commissioning of secondary mental illness services is shown in the table.
	Expenditure per head by primary care trusts (PCTs) in London on the commissioning of secondary mental illness services is shown in the following table.
	
		
			   £ 
			 Barking and Dagenham PCT 153.91 
			 Barnet PCT 107.55 
			 Bexley Care PCT 127.59 
			 Brent Teaching PCT 199.93 
			 Bromley PCT 125.30 
			 Camden PCT 214.52 
			 City and Hackney Teaching PCT 249.49 
			 Croydon PCT 111.14 
			 Haling PCT 185.29 
			 Enfield PCT 150.11 
			 Greenwich Teaching PCT 202.57 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT 199.41 
			 Haringey Teaching PCT 234.67 
			 Harrow PCT 146.70 
			 Havering PCT 117.65 
			 Hillingdon PCT 109.64 
			 Hounslow PCT 127.23 
			 Islington PCT 362,69 
			 Kensington and Chelsea PCT 195.77 
			 Kingston PCT 131.36 
			 Lambeth PCT 337.45 
			 Lewisham PCT 266.03 
			 Newham PCT 177.19 
			 Redbridge PCT 161.57 
			 Richmond and Twickenham PCT 135.74 
			 Southwark PCT 262.66 
			 Sutton and Merton PCT 118.83 
			 Tower Hamlets PCT 191.96 
			 Waltham Forest PCT 170.25 
			 Wandsworth PCT 180.20 
			 Westminster PCT 247.89 
			 London 181.35 
			  Notes: 1. The information relates to expenditure of PCTs on the commissioning of secondary mental illness services from both NHS trusts and non-NHS providers. 2. Some PCTs may have local arrangements in respect of commissioning. PCTs may have an arrangement whereby the commissioning of healthcare expenditure in the area is by one PCT only.  Sources: 1. Audited summarisation schedules of primary care trusts in the London area 2005-06 2. Office for National Statistics unweighted population figures.

Midwives: Manpower

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwifery vacancies there are in  (a) Staffordshire,  (b) the West Midlands and  (c) England.

Rosie Winterton: The number of three months vacancies and three month vacancy rates for midwives in Staffordshire, West Midlands and England are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  March 2006 
			   Three month vacancy rate (percentage)  Three month vacancy number 
			 England 1.0 185 
			 West Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA) area 0.2 4 
			  of which:   
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire 0.5 3 
			  of which:   
			 Burton Hospitals National Health Service Trust 2.7 3 
			 Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust 0.0 0 
			 North Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust 0.0 0 
			 Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust 0.0 0 
			  Notes: 1. Three month vacancy information is as at 31 March 2006. 2. Three month vacancies are vacancies which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (full-time equivalents). 3. Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus full-time equivalent staff in post. 4. Three month vacancy rates are calculated using full-time equivalent staff in post from the non-medical work force census, September 2004. 5. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. 6. Figures are for the old Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA (Q26) area. Only those organisations which employ midwives are listed.  Source: March 2006 non medical NHS vacancy survey

National Blood Service

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in modernising the National Blood Service estate and facilities; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Significant parts of the current National Blood Service (NBS) infrastructure are not adequate for modern processing and testing requirements. The NBS plans to modernise its estate by investing in three blood processing and testing facilities. These will be located in Filton in Bristol, Manchester and Colindale. This configuration provides a good geographical spread of activity, maximising productivity, while maintaining adequate contingency and flexibility.
	This will not impact on the local availability of products and services to patients. The NBS will maintain a network of local blood banks to ensure hospitals and patients continue to get the blood and blood components they need.
	The centre in Filton will be a new building and is currently being constructed, on schedule and to budget. It is expected to be fully operational in March 2009. An outline business case is being prepared for the development of the Colindale and Manchester centres. It is planned that the development of these centres will be completed by March 2010.
	In addition, the NBS built a new centre in Liverpool, which is the focus of NBS tissue services and came into operation in 2005.

NHS Finance

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of  (a) managerial salaries,  (b) nursing salaries,  (c) maternity leave payments and  (d) pension contributions in the NHS was in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Rosie Winterton: Figures for the year 2005-06, which is the latest year for which information is available are shown as follows.
	
		
			  Total expenditure (England) 2005-06 
			   To nearest (£) million 
			  Managerial:  
			 Total staff costs of senior managers and managers 2,214 
			   
			  Nursing:  
			 Total staff costs of nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 11,522 
			 Maternity leave (1)— 
			 Pension contributions (2)2,875 
			 (1 )Payment figures are not held by the Department. (2 )All employees; employer contributions and other pension costs.  Note: Figures for NHS foundation trusts are not included.  Sources: Annual financial returns of strategic health authorities (SHAs), primary care trusts, and national health service trusts 2005-06 Audited strategic health authority summarisation forms 2005-06 Audited primary care trust and NHS trust summarisation schedules 2005-06

NHS: Air Pollution

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been paid by NHS trusts in England to authorised verification companies in relation to the Carbon Credits Scheme in the last 12 months.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not collected centrally.

NHS: Finance

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what information is held centrally by her Department on the net financial balance as a whole for the National Health Service;
	(2)  what information is held centrally by her Department on individual accounting units' net financial balance in the National Health Service.

Andy Burnham: Information is collected by the Department in audited summarisation schedules in respect of the surpluses or deficits in national health service trusts, and the performance against the revenue resource limits in strategic health authorities and primary care trusts.
	In the final accounts for 2005-06 the NHS as a whole, excluding foundation trusts, had a net deficit of £547 million. We expect the NHS to deliver net financial balance by the end of this financial year, recovering at a national level the overspend from 2005-06.
	Our published quarter 3 2006-07 NHS finance report contains details of the financial position for NHS organisations at the end of 2005-06, and the latest quarter 3 forecast out-turn position for 2006-07. Copies are available in the Library.

NHS: Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Payment by Results (PbR) guidance 2007-08 issued by her Department on 20 December 2006, Gateway reference 7539, which organisations whose PbR gains are capped in 2007-08 her Department has informed strategic health authorities are eligible for support; which organisations have had their  (a) PbR gains and  (b) PbR losses capped in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

NHS: National Clinical Directors

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2007,  Official Report, column 61W, on the National Director for Heart Disease and Stroke, for what reasons the National Clinical Directors were asked by her to produce reports; and what estimate she has made of the cost of producing each report.

Rosie Winterton: The national health service continues to respond to advances in medical technology and the rising expectations of patients. Improvements to services are wide ranging. Clinicians tell us that specialist care needs to be concentrated in centres of excellence. For example, specialist cancer surgery is now undertaken in cancer centres and a selection of hospitals have teams who can use angioplasty to unblock coronary arteries in patients suffering heart attack. The public also tell us that they want more services closer to their homes, where this is appropriate and safe. GPs are responding by providing a far wider range of treatments and services, including check ups which previously were often done in hospital outpatient appointments. The reports from the National Clinical Directors are their personal accounts as national clinical leaders of the reasons why services need to change.
	The reports are also in response to requests from the NHS for advice on the national policy context against which local services can be improved.
	The printing and publication costs of the six reports which have been issued is an average of £2,762.

Out-patients: Gravesend Community Hospital

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which outpatient clinics have been  (a) opened and  (b) closed at Gravesend Community Hospital over the last 12 months; and whether there are proposals (i) to reduce the number of clinics at and (ii) to move other out-patient clinics from the hospital in the future.

Caroline Flint: This is a matter for the local national health service.

Palliative Care: Finance

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on funding for palliative care in  (a) Upminster and  (b) England.

Rosie Winterton: Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible within the national health service for commissioning and funding services for their resident population, including palliative and end of life care. It is for PCTs to determine how to use the funding allocated to them to commission services to meet the healthcare needs of their local populations.

Smoking: Public Places

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she has made an assessment of the effect on cigarette sales of the introduction of the ban on smoking in public places in Scotland.

Caroline Flint: The introduction of smoke free legislation in Scotland is a devolved matter.
	Health Scotland has been funded by the Scottish Executive to undertake an extensive piece of research into the impact of smokefree legislation in Scotland. This will include an assessment of the impact on prevalence and consumption.

Surgery

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many bariatric surgical interventions were undertaken by the NHS in each year since 1997-98;
	(2)  how many liposuction procedures were undertaken by the NHS in each year since 1997-98.

Caroline Flint: The table sets out the count of all primary and secondary procedure fields for bariatric surgical interventions in national health service hospitals from 1997 to 2006.
	
		
			  Count of all primary and secondary procedure fields for bariatric surgical interventions*, data for years 1997-98 to 2005-06 in NHS hospitals, England 
			   Count of finished consultant episodes* (with 'obesity' as primary diagnosis)  Count of finished consultant episodes (without 'obesity' as primary diagnosis) 
			 2005-06 960 4,422 
			 2004-05 713 4,165 
			 2003-04 473 4,113 
			 2002-03 342 4,196 
			 2001-02 271 4,349 
			 2000-01 260 4,704 
			 1999-2000 200 5,014 
			 1998-99 187 5,120 
			 1997-98 150 5,279 
		
	
	The table sets out the count of all primary and secondary procedure fields for liposuction procedures in NHS Hospitals from 1997 to 2006.
	
		
			  Count of all primary and secondary procedure fields for liposuction procedures*, data for years 1997-98 to 2005-06 in NHS hospitals, England 
			   Count of finished consultant episodes* (with 'obesity' as primary diagnosis)  Count of finished consultant episodes (without 'obesity' as primary diagnosis) 
			 2005-06 6 2,052 
			 2004-05 6 1,503 
			 2003-04 8 1,378 
			 2002-03 6 1,168 
			 2001-02 4 916 
			 2000-01 4 851 
			 1999-2000 2 768 
			 1998-99 8 898 
			 1997-98 1 819 
			  Sources: 1. Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). 2. The Information Centre for Health and social care.